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
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.