John Singleton Copley

Paper Summary:

The paper examines John Singleton Copley's painting "Mars, Venus, and Vulcan: The Forge of Vulcan" and shows how it is an early attempt to apply an American view to a quintessentially European subject. The paper also analyzes his famous paintings "The Boy with the Squirrel" and "Watson and the Shark". The paper shows how Copley imbibed the techniques and styles of his native land and fused them with the copied European works that he saw displayed in America.

From the Paper:

"One of the foremost painters of his generation, the American John Singleton Copley brought the experiences of the New World to the traditions of European art. Born in Boston in 1738, Copley grew up in a world that, in his words, regarded painting as, "no more than any other usefull trade, as they sometimes term it, like that of a Carpenter tailor, or shew maker, not as one of the most noble Arts in the World." The American colonies were provincial adjuncts of the British Empire. Massachusetts, like the most of the Northern colonies, was commercial in outlook. Boston was a growing center of trade and small crafts, but not much more. Art and artistry were still thought of as something alien to the rough and ready world that was still being carved out of the pristine wilderness."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bell, Judith. "Artist Outgrew His Homeland but Wasn't the Same Abroad." Insight on the News 12 June 1995: 32+.
• Flexner, James Thomas. Random Harvest. Bronx, NY: Fordham University Press, 1998.
• Novak, Barbara. American Painting of the Nineteenth Century: Realism, Idealism, and the American Experience. 2nd ed. Boulder, CO: Icon Editions, 1979.
• Preston, Todd. "Moby-Dick and John Singleton Copley's Watson and the Shark." Melville Society Extracts July 2005: 1+.
• Rather, Susan. "Carpenter, Tailor, Shoemaker, Artist: Copley and Portrait Painting around 1770." The Art Bulletin 79.2 (1997): 269+.

More papers on John Singleton Copley:

• Comparison Essay # 111603 : "Comparitive Art"
• Essay # 50678 : "Painting and Legacy"

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