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John Singleton Copley

Jane Browne, 1756

West Building, Ground Floor — Gallery G43

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 75.6 x 62.6 cm (29 3/4 x 24 5/8 in.)

framed: 89.2 x 76.5 x 5.1 cm (35 1/8 x 30 1/8 x 2 in.)

Credit Line

Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Accession Number

1942.8.2

Artists / Makers

John Singleton Copley (painter) American, 1738 - 1815

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Overview

Information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century, pages 21-24, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-18th-century.pdf

Inscription

lower right on painted spandrel: I.S. Copley. Pinx. 1756; on reverse, in a later hand (beneath lining): Portrait of Jane Browne / afterwards wife of Samuel Livermore / Chief Justice of New Hampshire / Painted in Portsmouth N.H. / 1756 / by J.S. Copley

Provenance

Louisa Bliss Livermore [Mrs. Arthur Livermore, 1790-1871], Holderness and Campton, New Hampshire; bequeathed to her grandson, James Lauren Ford [1854-1928], Brookhaven, New York;[1] sold 20 February 1924 to (Art House, New York);[2] Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York; his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), to The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] The portrait probably was inherited by the sitter's son Arthur Livermore [1766-1853], Holderness and Campton, New Hampshire; his widow is the first owner of record; for Livermore's dates, see the Dictionary of American Biography 6: 304. Mrs. Livermore's dates and the reference to the bequest are in James Lauren Ford, Forty-odd Years in the Literary Shop. (New York, 1921), 7, 10, and Barbara Neville Parker and Anne Bolling Wheeler, John Singleton Copley; American Portraits in Oil, Pastel, and Miniature with Biographical Sketches. (Boston, 1938), 52. Ford is listed in Who Was Who in America, Volume 1: 1897-1942 (Chicago, 1943), 412.

[2] Receipt in NGA curatorial files dated 20 February 1924, signed by Margaret Armstrong, a family friend. Art House, Inc., fine arts dealers, was founded by Thomas B. Clarke in 1891. Clarke's direct involvement in the purchase of the painting is shown by four letters to Clarke from Margaret Armstrong and James Lauren Ford's sister Mary K. Ford, dated 30 January and 2, 9, and 18 February 1924, all in NGA curatorial files. The name of the seller and date of purchase are recorded in an 1928 Clarke exhibition catalogue annotated with information from files of M. Knoedler & Co., NY (copy in NGA curatorial records and in NGA library).

Associated Names

Art House, Inc.
Clarke, Thomas Benedict
Ford, James Lauren
Knoedler & Company, M.
Livermore, Louisa Bliss
Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, The A.W.

Exhibition History

1894: Portraits of Women; Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of St. John's Guild and The Orthopaedic Hospital, National Academy of Design, New York, 1894, no. 82.

1924: Exhibition of the Earliest Known Portraits of Americans by Painters of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, The Union League Club, New York, March 1924, no. 12.

1928: A Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Early American Portrait Painters, The Century Association, New York, 1928, no. 13.

1928: Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928-1931, unnumbered and unpaginated catalogue.

1938: John Singleton Copley, 1738-1815, Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Pastels, Miniatures and Drawings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1938, no. 15.

1943: American Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1943.

1947: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1947.

1948: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1948.

1949: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1949.

1950: The Face of American History, Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina, 1950, no. 2.

1951: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1951.

1951: American Portraits from the National Gallery of Art, High Museum of Art, 1951, no. 4 (organized by the Atlanta Art Association).

1952: [Opening exhibition], Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1952, no. cat.

1952: Opening Exhibition of The George Thomas Hunter Gallery of Art, Chattanooga Art Association, Tennessee, 1952, unnumbered.

1953: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1953.

1955: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1955.

1956: American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1956.

1965: John Singleton Copley, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1965-1966, no. 7.

1976: "First Flowers of Our Wilderness", The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California: The University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, 1976, no. 16, pl. 16.

Bibliography

n.d.: Perkins, Augustus Thorndike. Supplementary List of Paintings by John Singleton Copley. Boston, n.d. [after 1873]: 5.

1894: Portraits of Women; Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of St. John's Guild and The Orthopaedic Hospital. Exh. cat. National Academy of Design, New York, 1894: no. 82.

1907: Hodges, George. Holderness; An Account of the Beginnings of a New Hampshire Town. Boston and New York, 1907: xiii, repro. opp. 60.

1915: Bayley, Frank W. The Life and Works of John Singleton Copley. Boston, 1915: 166.

1921: Ford, James Lauren. Forty-odd Years in the Literary Shop. New York, 1921: 7, 10.

1923: Rogers, Mary Cochrane. Glimpses of an Old Social Capital (Portsmouth, New Hampshire). Boston, 1923: repro. opp. 64.

1924: Exhibition of the Earliest Known Portraits of Americans by Painters of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Exh. cat. The Union League Club, New York, 1924: no. 12.

1928: A Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Early American Portrait Painters. Exh. cat. The Century Association, New York, 1928: no. 13.

1928: Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke. Exh. cat. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928, unnumbered.

1928: Sherman, Frederic Fairchild. "Portraits and Miniatures by Copley, Dunlap, Eichholtz, and Robert Street." Art in America 16 (1928): 122, repro. 123.

1930: Bolton, Theodore and Harry Lorin Binsse. "An American Artist of Formula: Joseph Blackburn." The Antiquarian 15 (November 1930): 50, repro.

1938: John Singleton Copley, 1738-1815, Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Pastels, Miniatures and Drawings, Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1938: no. 15.

1938: Parker, Barbara Neville and Anne Bolling Wheeler. John Singleton Copley: American Portraits in Oil, Pastel, and Miniature with Biographical Sketches. Boston, 1938: 51-52, pl. 7.

1939: Morgan, John Hill. John Singleton Copley, 1737/8-1815. Windham, Connecticut, 1939: 11.

1943: Burroughs, Alan. "Young Copley." Art in America 31 (October 1943): 164, repro. cover.

1950: The Face of American History. Exh. cat. Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina, 1950: no. 2.

1951: American Portraits from the National Gallery of Art. Exh. cat. Atlanta Art Association, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 1951: no. 4.

1952: Opening Exhibition of the George Thomas Hunter Gallery of Art. Exh. cat. Chattanooga Art Association, 1952: unnumbered.

1953: Roberts, Kenneth. "Elizabeth Browne, Joseph Blackburn and `Northwest Passage'," Art in America 41 (Winter 1953): 5-21, fig. 7.

1965: John Singleton Copley, Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1965-1966: no. 7.

1966: Prown, Jules David. John Singleton Copley, vol. 1. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966, pp. 22-24, 211, fig. 40, no. 10.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 44, repro.

1975: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 390, fig. 561.

1976: First Flowers of Our Wilderness. Exh. cat. The Santa Barbara Museum of Art; The University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, 1976: no. 16.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 135, repro.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: repro. 20, 21.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 387, no. 546, color repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 147, repro.

1995: Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 21-24, color repro. 23.