Artist

John Singleton Copley

born Boston, MA 1738-died 1815 London, England
Media - portrait_image_113727.jpg - 90404
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
Also known as
  • John Singleton Copley, the Elder
Born
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Died
London, England
Nationalities
  • American
Biography

Born in Boston, moved to London in 1774. The most celebrated American artist of the 18th century, he achieved great success first as a portraitist in Massachusetts, later as a history painter in England.

Charles Sullivan, ed American Beauties: Women in Art and Literature (New York: Henry N. Abrams, Inc., in association with National Museum of American Art, 1993)

Luce Artist Biography

Essentially self-taught, John Singleton Copley became the leading portrait painter in the colonies before moving to England in 1774. He painted miniatures between 1755 and 1770, creating roughly thirty oil-on-copper images and fifteen paintings in watercolor on ivory.

Related Books

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Young America: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Young America: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum commemorates “Treasures to Go,” a series of eight exhibitions from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which toured the nation through 2002. The Principal Financial Group is a proud partner in presenting these treasures to the American people.