Study for "The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar"

1783-1786

John Singleton Copley

Associated Names
John Singleton Copley

Artist, American, 1738 - 1815

The image shows a pencil drawing featuring four individuals in dynamic poses. The figures are depicted from head to toe, each in energetic positions, appearing to propel themselves forward. Starting from the left, the first person leans in a bent stance, stretching one arm forward; he has short hair and is dressed in a suit with shoes. The second person extends both arms outward, their forward thrust highlighted by forward-leaning posture, wearing similarly styled clothing and also having short hair. The third person is more obscured, appearing between the other two figures, with their head turned slightly in profile, showing long hair. The fourth figure is crouched with one arm extended downwards and the other upwards. All individuals are dressed in suits with long trousers and are positioned on what appears to be a triangular surface. The background of the drawing is devoid of detail, focusing attention on the movement and posture of the figures, drawn on a blue-tinted textured paper with grid lines faintly visible across the entire image.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    graphite with white chalk on blue-gray laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase)

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 36.51 × 56.83 cm (14 3/8 × 22 3/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2014.136.187

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

the artist, London; Lord Lyndhurst (John Singelton Copley, Jr.), London, 1815; (Lyndhurst Library Sale, Christie's, London, 1864); Edward Basil Jupp, London; Amory Family, Boston, MA; (Harry Shaw Newman Gallery, New York); Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1948; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1947

  • Exhibition of Drawings by Copley, Harry Shaw Newman Gallery, New York, 1947

1952

  • Drawings by American Masters, Howard University, Washington, DC, 1952

1954

  • George Washington's World, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, 1954

1980

  • The Human Form: Contemporary American Figure Drawing and the Academic Tradition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1980, no. 1

1981

  • Early America on Paper: Prints and Drawings, 1750-1850, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1981

1983

  • American Master Drawings from the Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1983

1986

  • American Masters: Works on Paper from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, 1986-1988, pp. 10-13, 36, no. 1, repro

Bibliography

1966

  • Prown, Jules David. John Singleton Copley, vol. 2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966, p. 449, fig. 513 (as "Three Figures Pulling on Spanish Colors").

1983

  • Simmons, Linda Crocker and with the assistance of Adrianne J. Humphrey, et al. American Drawings, Watercolors, Pastels, and Collages in the Collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, DC: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1983: p. 1, no. 2.

Inscriptions

lower right in graphite: (not deciphered) Siege of Gibaltrar/3 6 0 12; along the upper edge in graphite: 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2; along the right sheet edge in graphite: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1; along the lower edge in graphite: 6 5 3 2 1; verso lower right corner in graphite: Siege of Gibraltar

Wikidata ID

Q64584141

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