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Overview

Information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century, pages 36-38, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-18th-century.pdf

Inscription

lower left: John Singleton Copley / pinx.1772.Boston.-

Provenance

For sale by unidentified owner, Boston, 1841.[1] Copley Amory [1841-1879];[2] his son, Copley Amory [1866-1960], Washington, D.C.;[3] his wife, Mary Forbes Russell Amory [1870-1961], Washington, D.C., in 1929; their son, Copley Amory, Jr. [1890-1964], Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1944;[4] bequeathed to his nephew, Walter Amory [b. 1924], Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts;[5] purchased 1965 by NGA with funds from the Avalon Foundation.

Exhibition History

1841
Boston Athenaeum, 1841, no. 59.
1896
Loan Exhibition of Portraits for the benefit of the Associated Charities and the North End Union, Copley Society, Boston, 1896, no. 59.
1910
Musuem of Fine Arts, Boston, 1910-1924.
1925
Exhibition of Early American Paintings, Miniatures and Silver Assembled by the Washington Loan Exhibition Committee, National Gallery of Art (now Smithsonian American Art Museum), Washington, D.C., 1925-1926, no. 11.
1938
John Singleton Copley, 1738-1815, Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Pastels, Miniatures and Drawings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1938, no. 74.
1965
John Singleton Copley, 1738-1815, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Musuem of Fine Arts, Boston, 1965-1966, no. 53.
1969
In Memoriam, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, unnumbered checklist.
1995
John Singleton Copley in America, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Milwaukee Art Museum, 1995-1996, no. 74, repro.

Bibliography

1873
Perkins, Augustus Thorndike. A Sketch of the Life and a List of Some of the Works of John Singleton Copley. Boston, 1873: 19, 111.
1896
Loan Exhibition of Portraits for the benefit of the Associated Charities and the North End Union, Exh. cat. Copley Society, Boston, 1896: no. 59.
1910
Addison, Julia de Wolf. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Boston, 1910: 5; 2nd ed. Boston, 1924: 5.
1910
Bayley, Frank W. A Sketch of the Life and a List of Some of the Works of John Singleton Copley. Boston, 1910: 99-100, 244.
1915
Bayley, Frank W. The Life and Works of John Singleton Copley. Boston, 1915: 244.
1924
Addison, Julia de Wolf. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts. 2nd ed. Boston, 1924: 5.
1925
Exhibition of Early American Paintings, Miniatures and Silver Assembled by the Washington Loan Exhibition Committee, Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1925-1926: no. 11.
1930
Bolton, Theodore and Harry Lorin Binsse. "John Singleton Copley." The Antiquarian 15 (December 1930): 118.
1937
Shipton, Clifford K. Sibley's Harvard Graduates, Vol. 5 Biographical Sketches of Those who attended Harvard College in the Classes 1701-1712 with Biographical and other Notes. Boston, 1937: 651-653.
1938
John Singleton Copley, 1738-1815, Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Pastels, Miniatures and Drawings, Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1938: no. 74.
1938
Parker, Barbara Neville and Anne Bolling Wheeler. John Singleton Copley: American Portraits in Oil, Pastel, and Miniature with Biographical Sketches. Boston, 1938: 190, pl. 111.
1965
John Singleton Copley, 1738-1815, Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Musuem of Fine Arts, Boston, 1965-1966: no. 53.
1966
Prown, Jules David. John Singleton Copley, vol. 1. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966, pp. 85, 88, 92, 115, 194, 231, fig. 317, no. 52.
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 46, repro.
1975
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 390, color repro. fig. 563.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 138, repro.
1980
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 13
1981
Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 22, repro. 23.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 387, no. 548, color repro.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 149, 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: 36-38, color repro. 37.
2024
Haw, Kate, Charles Brock, James Meyer, and Donna Kirk. "The Conversation Series. A Look Behind the Latest Installation." Art for the Nation no. 68 (Spring 2024): 10, fig. 8.

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