Copley, JOHN SINGLETON, R.A.

Copley, JOHN SINGLETON, R.A., portrait and historical painter, was born 3d July 1737, at Boston, U.S. His parents, both of English extraction, had emigrated from Ireland in the previous year. It has usually been asserted that Copley was a self-taught artist; but Mr W. H. Whitmore of Boston has shown that he was instructed by his stepfather, Peter Pelham, the portrait-painter and engraver, and probably also by John Smibert. At the age of sixteen he was executing portraits of considerable merit; and in 1755 Washington sat to him. In 1766 and 1767 he sent over works for exhibition in the rooms of the Society of Incorporated Artists; and in June 1774 he left for Europe. In London he was well received by Reynolds, West, and Strange, and he was commissioned to paint the king and queen for Governor Wentworth. Passing to the Continent in August, he studied in Italy, returning to London in the end of 1776. His first important subject-picture was the 'Youth rescued from a Shark,' presented by the artist to Christ's Hospital School; which was followed by 'The Death of Chatham' (1779-80), an impressive subject, in which the portraits of the peers were carefully studied from life, and the still finer 'Death of Major Pierson' (1783). Both are in the National Gallery; the former was engraved by Bartolozzi, the latter by Heath. In 1789-90 he executed the immense 'Siege and Relief of Gibraltar,' now in the Guildhall. Among his numerous other popular works may be named 'The Surrender of Admiral De Winter to Lord Duncan;' 'Charles I. demanding the Surrender of the Five Members,' now in Boston; 'Charles I. signing Strafford's Death-warrant;' and 'The Assassination of Buckingham.' He died 9th September 1815, leaving a son, the future Lord Lyndhurst. Copley's historical subjects are more original, spirited, and finer in colour than those of his friend and countryman West, with whom he is commonly classed. See Lives by Perkins (1873) and Mrs Amory (1882).