John Singleton Copley - The Return of Neptune [c.1754]

John Singleton Copley - The Return of Neptune [c.1754], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - Oil on canvas, 69.9 x 113 cm]

John Singleton Copley - Paul Revere [1768]

John Singleton Copley - Paul Revere [1768], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Copley's inspired portrait of his friend and colleague abides by the rules of the game for colonial portraiture; it is an accurate, intricate, and apparently truthful likeness, even as it presents an encoded story. Copley (American, 1738–1815) approached each of his sitters as a type and was able to distinguish each one legibly, much like a character in a play or a novel. The obvious clues to Revere's artistic identity are his open-collared shirt, lack of a coat, contemplative hand-to-chin pose, teapot lacking an inscription, and tools of the silversmith's trade. The embedded narrative is associated with the teapot (Revere actually crafted only one in 1768), as his clients had boycotted tea. With a complicit sitter, Copley created a portrait that reaches beyond biography (the usual province of portraiture) and conveys a message that would have been understood and appreciated by those who saw the painting.

[Oil on canvas, 89.2 x 72.4 cm]

John Singleton Copley - Watson and the Shark [1778]

John Singleton Copley - Watson and the Shark [1778], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

For the notorious British merchant Brook Watson, Copley created a redemptive, retrospective narrative in crisp, legible detail for a grand venue, the Royal Academy of Arts, London. The picture tells a tale from Watson's youth: in 1749 the orphaned fourteen-year-old boy was crewing for a merchant marine in Havana Harbour, Cuba, when he was attacked by a shark while swimming. Watson was dragged under water three times and lost a leg before his fellow crewmen were able to save him by stabbing the shark with a boat hook. On public view in 1778, the painting promoted Copley, just three years after he left Boston. It also redeemed Watson, a controversial character reviled by some for dishonourable business practices and unethical political motives, by showing that he had been delivered from the jaws of death, a salvation accorded only those of high moral fibre and undeniable goodness.

[Oil on canvas, 182.1 x 229.7 cm]