Epes Sargent

c. 1760

John Singleton Copley

Painter, American, 1738 - 1815

Shown from the knees up, and older, clean-shaven, pale-skinned man rests one elbow on a broken column in this vertical portrait painting. He rests on his right elbow, on our left, so his body creates a diagonal from the lower right to the top center of the composition. He looks at us with clear blue eyes under low brows. His fleshy cheeks are lightly flushed. Wrinkles line his mouth, which is closed in a slight smile. He has jowls and a double chin, and his face is marked with few flesh-colored bumps near his mouth and under one eye. Thick, white hair is brushed back from his forehead, and shoulder-length curls frame his wide face. His is lit from our left so the far side of his face is largely in shadow except for that eye. A strip of bright white fabric encircles his neck above the collar of his long, steel-gray coat. Only the bottom half of the buttons down the front are fastened. White ruffles line his wrists. A glimpse of a golden yellow garment and dark trousers are visible where the coat splits near the bottom of the painting. His left hand, to our right, is thrust into that coat pocket. The other elbow rests on the light brown stone column base on a tall pedestal, and he touches his midsection with those fingers. The left half of the background is dark brown and the right half opens onto a green tree silhouetted against a hazy-pink and aquamarine-blue sky.

Media Options

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John Singleton Copley, America's most important colonial painter, was born in Boston of Irish parents. In 1748 Copley's widowed mother married Peter Pelham, a painter and engraver. Copley's stepfather probably gave him some art lessons but died when Copley was only 13. In later years the painter claimed he was self–taught.

Copley, who was extremely observant, presumably learned about art largely by watching other English–trained painters who were working in the New World and by studying engravings imported from Europe. Much more important was his innate ability to record details objectively and to suggest character. Gilbert Stuart would later say of the uncompromising realism in Copley's Epes Sargent, "Prick that hand and blood will spurt forth."

About 70 years old when he posed for Copley, Sargent had dropped out of Harvard College to enter business in his native Gloucester. After the death of his first wife, this prosperous merchant and shipowner married a rich widow from Salem. Copley's portrayal shows him nonchalantly leaning on a marble pedestal as a symbol of prestige; since carved stone monuments were rather rare in the colonies, this imaginary device must be borrowed from European prints of potentates.

Such penetrating likenesses made Copley the best–paid artist in colonial America. By shipping some of his canvases to London for criticism, Copley soon became known in England.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century, pages 24-28, which is available as a free PDF at https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-18th-century.pdf

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 60-B

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of the Avalon Foundation

  • Dimensions

    overall: 126.6 x 101.7 cm (49 13/16 x 40 1/16 in.)
    framed: 144.8 x 118.1 cm (57 x 46 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1959.4.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

John James Dixwell [1806-1876], Boston, the sitter's great-great-grandson;[1] his daughter, Caroline Dixwell Clements [Mrs. George Henry Clements, 1856-1931], New York;[2] her daughter, Anna Clements Knauth [Mrs. Oswald Whitman Knauth, 1890-1965], New York;[3] her son, Arnold Whitman Knauth II [b. 1918], Rockport, Massachusetts; (Milch Galleries, New York), 1958; (Hirschl and Adler Galleries, Inc., New York), 1958-1959;[4] purchased 1959 by NGA with funds from the Avalon Foundation.
[1] Dixwell, lender to the exhibition at the Boston Atheneum in 1863, is the earliest recorded owner of the portrait. It probably descended from the sitter to his son Epes [1721-1779], to his son Epes [1748-1822], to his daughter Esther [Mrs. John Dixwell, 1776-1865], mother of John James Dixwell; see Emma Worcester Sargent and Charles Sprague Sargent, Epes Sargent of Gloucester and his Descendants, Boston and New York, 1923, 10-13.
[2] Sargent and Sargent 1923, 14; Social Register, New York, 1932 (New York, 1931), 153.
[3] Sargent and Sargent 1923, 15; obituary, The New York Times, 12 April 1965, 35.
[4] Information from M. P. Naud, Hirschl and Adler Galleries, in conversation with Mary Ellen Fraser, intern, NGA, 26 July 1988; conservation report from Hirschl and Adler Galleries, 30 March 1959, in NGA conservation files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1863

  • Pictures lent to the Sanitary Fair for Exhibition, Boston Athenaeum, 1863, no. 140.

1864

  • Paintings and Statuary exhibited for the Benefit of the National Sailors' Fair, at the Athenaeum Gallery, Boston Athenaeum, 1864, no. 338.

1871

  • Forty-Seventh Exhibition of Paintings at the Athenaeum Gallery, Boston, 1871, no. 238.

1888

  • Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1888-1892.

1893

  • Retrospective Exhibit of American Painting, World's Columbian Exposition, Department of Fine Arts, Chicago, 1893, no. 203.

1909

  • The Hudson-Fulton Celebration: American Paintings, Furniture, Silver and Other Objects of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1909, no. 8.

1911

  • An Exhibition of Colonial Portraits, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1911, no. 16.

1917

  • An Exhibition of Early American Paintings, Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 1917, no. 18.

1936

  • An Exhibition of Paintings by John Singleton Copley, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1936-1937, no. 5.

1940

  • Survey of American Painting, Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1940, no. 62.

1942

  • Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1942-1945.

1945

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945-1948.

1949

  • From Colony to Nation: An Exhibition of American Painting, Silver and Architecture From 1650 to the War of 1812, Art Institute of Chicago, 1949, no. 29.

1962

  • Masterpieces of Art, Seattle World's Fair, 1962, no. 10.

1963

  • Four Centuries of American Art, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1963-1964, unnumbered.

1965

  • John Singleton Copley, 1738-1815, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Metropolitan Musuem of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1965-1966, no. 14.

1968

  • Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, 1968, no cat.

1969

  • In Memoriam, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, unnumbered checklist.

1976

  • American Art: 1750-1800, Towards Independence, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1976, no. 11.

  • The Classical Spirit in American Portraiture, Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, 1976, no. 3.

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. 11, repro.

Bibliography

1863

  • Catalogue of Pictures lent to the Sanitary Fair for Exhibition. Together with Cataolgue of Paintings and Statuary, of the Athenaeum Gallery, Beacon Street, Boston., Exh. cat. Boston Atheneum, 1863: 13, no. 140.

1864

  • Catalogue of Paintings and Statuary exh. for the Benefit of the National Sailors' Fair, at the Athenaeum Gallery, Exh. cat. Boston Athenaeum, 1864: 117, no. 338.

1867

  • Tuckerman, Henry T. Book of the Artists. 1867. 5th ed. 1870. Reprint. New York, 1966: 73.

1871

  • Catalogue of the Forty-Seventh Exhibition of Paintings at the Athenaeum Gallery, Exh. cat. 2nd ed. Boston, 1871: 10, no. 238.

1873

  • Perkins, Augustus Thorndike. A Sketch of the Life and a List of Some of the Works of John Singleton Copley. Boston, 1873: 16, 101-102, 105.

1892

  • Museum of Fine Arts. Catalogue of Paintings and Drawings, With a Summary of other Works of Art, Exhibited on the Second Floor. 3rd ed. Boston, 1892: 15, no. 144.

1893

  • Retrospective Exhibit of American Painting. Exh. cat. World's Columbian Exposition, Department of Fine Arts, Chicago, 1893: no. 203.

1904

  • Isham, Samuel. "The Art of Copley." Masters in Art Boston, 1904: 5:39, pl. 7.

1909

  • The Hudson-Fulton Celebration: American Paintings, Furniture, Silver and Other Objects of Art, The Hudson-Fulton Celebration 2. Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1909: no. 8.

1911

  • An Exhibition of Colonial Portraits, Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1911: no. 16.

1915

  • Bayley, Frank W. The Life and Works of John Singleton Copley. Boston, 1915: 214-215.

1917

  • An Exhibition of Early American Paintings, Exh. cat. Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 1917: no. 18.

1923

  • Sargent, Emma Worcester, and Charles Sprague Sargent. Epes Sargent of Gloucester and his Descendants. Boston and New York, 1924: 6-8, frontispiece.

1924

  • Cortissoz, Royal. "The Field of Art." Scribner's Magazine 76 (July 1924). Reprinted as "Early American Portraiture" In Personalities in Art New York and London, 1925: 110.

1927

  • Mather, Frank Jewett, Jr., Charles Rufus Morey, William James Henderson. The American Spirit in Art. The Pageant of America. 15 vols. Ralph Henry Gabriel, ed. New Haven, 1927: 10, repro. ("Painting" by Mather).

1930

  • Bolton, Theodore and Harry Lorin Binsse. "John Singleton Copley." The Antiquarian 15 (December 1930): 118.

1936

  • An Exhibition of Paintings by John Singleton Copley, Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1936-1937: no. 5.

1937

  • Morgan, John Hill. "Some Notes on John Singleton Copley." Antiques 31 (March 1937): 117.

  • Shipton, Clifford K., ed. Sibley's Harvard Graduates. Vol. 5, Biographical Sketches of those who attended Harvard College in the Classes 1701-1712. Boston, 1937: 645-646, repro. opp. 645.

1938

  • Parker, Barbara Neville and Anne Bolling Wheeler. John Singleton Copley: American Portraits in Oil, Pastel, and Miniature with Biographical Sketches. Boston, 1938: 11, 171-172, pl. 21.

1939

  • Morgan, John Hill. John Singleton Copley. Windham, Connecticut, 1939: 12.

1940

  • Lane, James W. "This Year the Carnegie National." Art News 39 (October 1940): 12, repro. 8.

  • Hagen, Oskar. The Birth of the American Tradition in Art. New York, 1940: 101.

1942

  • "Reunion in Minneapolis," Art Digest 17 (15 October 1942): 15.

1949

  • From Colony to Nation: An Exhibition of American Painting, Silver and Architecture From 1650 to the War of 1812, Exh. cat. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1949: no. 29.

1950

  • Barker, Virgil. "Copley's American Portraits." Magazine of Art 43 (March 1950): 83.

1951

  • Walker, John. Paintings from America. Harmondsworth, England, 1951: 15, 42, pl. 2.

1960

  • The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 9.

1962

  • Masterpieces of Art, Exh. cat. Seattle World's Fair, 1962: no. 10.

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 128, color repro.

1963

  • Four Centuries of American Art, Exh. cat. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1963-1964: unnumbered.

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 320, repro.

1965

  • John Singleton Copley, Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; Metropolitan Musuem of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1965-1966: no. 14.

1966

  • Prown, Jules David. "The Art Historian and the Computer; An Analysis of Copley's Patronage 1753-1774." The Smithsonian Journal of History 1, no. 4 (1966): 27, 30.

  • Prown, Jules David. John Singleton Copley, vol. 1. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966, pp. 33-34, 42, 77, 84, 156-157, 180-181, 190-191, 227-228, fig. 89, no. 275.

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:392, color repro.

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, fig. 562, color repro.

1976

  • American Art: 1750-1800, Towards Independence, Exh. cat. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1976: no. 11.

  • The Classical Spirit in American Portraiture, Exh. cat. Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, 1976: no. 3.

  • Wilmerding, John. American Art. Hammondsworth, England, and New York, 1976: 36-37, pl. 34.

1980

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 13, 44, repro.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 138, repro.

  • Perkins and Gavin 1980, 40.

1981

  • Quick, Michael. "Princely Images in the Wilderness: 1720-1775." American Portraiture in the Grand Manner: 1720-1920 Exh. cat. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1981: 19.

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: repro. 13 (detail), 21, color repro. 42.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 387, no. 547, color repro.

1986

  • Yarnall and Gerdts 1986, 1:825, nos. 19962 and 19963.

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 52, repro.

  • Fleischer, Roland E. "Emblems and Colonial American Painting." The American Art Journal 20, no. 3 (1988): 31-32, repro.

1992

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

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 208, 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: 24-28, color repro. 26.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 290, no. 234, color repro.

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.

Wikidata ID

Q20178185

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