The Copley Family

1776/1777

John Singleton Copley

Painter, American, 1738 - 1815

A group of three adults and four children are gathered on and around a couch in an interior space that opens out to a distant hilly landscape in this horizontal portrait painting. All seven people have pale skin and are clustered across the middle of the composition. To our left, an older man wearing a white wig, white cravat, and black jacket sits facing us as he holds a squirming baby on his lap. The man’s slightly tanned face is turned to gaze to our right with pale blue eyes under thick brown eyebrows. Jowls line his jaw around pursed lips. The child in his lap twists to look up at him. She holds up her pudgy arms, grasping a gold-colored rattle with bells in her left hand. She has blond hair, smooth skin, and rose-red lips, and she wears a long white gown with a petal-pink sash around the waist. Behind this pair a younger man stands with his body angled to our right in profile as he turns his face to look at us from the corners of his eyes, with a faint smile on his closed pink lips. He also wears a white cravat and black jacket, but his hair is dove gray. His forearms rest on a low, olive-green stone column in front of him, his hands crossed at the wrist as he holds papers in his right hand. To our right and at the center of the group, a young girl stands facing us with her arms crossed at her waist. A lacy, ivory cap frames tawny brown bangs that sweep across her forehead. Her petite nose, brown eyes, and rose-red lips are set within her round face. She wears an ivory-white gown belted with a sash that shimmers from pink to copper as it cascades down her right side, to our left. On her other side, the final trio includes a woman sitting with her arms entwined around two more small children. They sit on a cranberry-red, brocaded sofa. Her sapphire-blue gown has a voluminous skirt and is trimmed with gold stitching along its square neckline. The fabric gleams softly, suggesting silk. Her dark brown hair is piled high on her head, topped by a sheer white veil. Her body is angled toward us, but her head is turned in profile to our left, bowing to almost brush noses with the young child standing alongside her. Shoulder-length brown hair falls to the child’s shoulders as the head is tipped back to gaze at the woman with a wide smile. One arm reaches up and embraces the woman’s neck and the other rests on her knee. The child wears a butter-yellow gown with a white sash around the waist. The fourth and final child lies belly down across the red and copper bolster cushion of the couch so her elbows are propped on her mother’s lap. The child turns her head back to look at us with dark eyes and slight smile on her pale pink lips. Her blond hair falls down the back of her white gown, which is belted with a gold sash. A child’s doll and hat with a rounded crown, a narrow brim, and an indigo-blue feather rests in folds of the curtain on the floral-patterned carpet near the lower left corner of the painting. The scene is framed by rust-red drapery edged in gold hanging from the upper left. In the landscape seen through an opening behind the family, hills fade from sage green to slate blue, and they become more faint as they recede to the horizon, which comes about three-quarters of the way up this composition. The opening is framed with a flowering vine climbing the wall behind the woman.

Media Options

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Fleeing the violence of the American Revolution, John Singleton Copley and his family settled in London in 1775. While Copley (standing at top left) tried to remain neutral, his father-in-law Richard Clarke (seated in front of the artist) supported the British. This group portrait suggests domestic harmony despite the political turmoil. The floral patterns on the rug and sofa blend smoothly into the peaceful landscape.

The Copley Family was first exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1777. It both raised the profile of the family in British society and advertised the artist’s remarkable skill.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 59

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 184.1 x 229.2 cm (72 1/2 x 90 1/4 in.)
    framed: 226.1 x 271.8 x 13.9 cm (89 x 107 x 5 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1961.7.1

More About this Artwork

We look onto the side of a rowboat crowded with nine men trying to save a pale, nude young man who flails in the water in front of us as a shark approaches, mouth agape, from our right in this horizontal painting. In the water, the man floats with his chest facing the sky, his right arm overhead and the other stretched out by his side. Extending to our left, his left leg is bent and the right leg is straight, disappearing below the knee. His long blond hair swirls in the water and he arches his back, his wide-open eyes looking toward the shark behind him. To our right, the shark rolls up out of the water with its gaping jaws showing rows of pointed teeth. In the boat, eight of the men have light or tanned complexions, and one man has dark brown skin. The man with brown skin stands at the back center of the boat, and he holds one end of a rope, which falls across the boat and around the upper arm of the man in the water. Another man stands at the stern of the boat, to our right, poised with a long, hooked harpoon over the side of the boat, ready to strike the shark. His long dark hair blows back and he wears a navy-blue jacket with brass buttons, white breeches, blue stockings, and his shoes have silver buckles. Two other men wearing white shirts with blousy sleeves lean over the side of the boat, bracing each other as they reach toward the man in the water. An older, balding man holds the shirt and body of one of this pair and looks on, his mouth open. The other men hold long oars and look into the water with furrowed brows. The tip of a shark’s tail slices through the water to our right of the boat, near the right edge of the canvas. Along the horizon line, which comes three-quarters of the way up the composition, buildings and tall spires line the harbor. The masts of boats at port creates a row of crosses against the light blue sky. Steely gray clouds sweep across the upper left corner of the canvas and the sky lightens to pale, butter yellow at the horizon.

Article:  Centering the Black Sailor in Copley’s "Watson and the Shark"

This sailor was one of the first Black figures at the center of a history painting. What can a close look tell us about Black life during colonial times?

Video:  Friends and Rivals: Copley, West, Peale, Trumbull, and Stuart

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist; his son, John Singleton Copley, Jr., Lord Lyndhurst [1772-1863], London; (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 5 March 1864, no. 91); bought by "Clarke" for the artist's granddaughter, Martha Babcock Greene Amory [Mrs. Charles Amory, 1812-1880], Boston;[1] her husband, Charles Amory [1808-1898], Boston;[2] their son, Edward Linzee Amory [1844-1911], New York;[3] his nephew, Copley Amory [1866-1960], Washington,[4] to his descendants, Copley Amory, Jr. [1890-1964], Cambridge, Massachusetts,[5] Henry Russell Amory [1892 1962], Santa Barbara, California, Katharine Amory Smith [b. 1908], Washington, Walter Amory [b. 1924], Duxbury, Massachusetts, and Elizabeth Cole Amory [b. 1955], Princeton, New Jersey;[6] sold 1961 to NGA.
[1] The annotated copy of Christie's Catalogue of the Very Valuable Collection of Pictures, of the Rt. Hon. Lord Lyndhurst, deceased at the Boston Atheneum indicates that "Clarke" was the purchaser, as does The Art-Journal, London, 1 April 1864, 120. The initials BA that are entered next to the lot number indicate that it was purchased for Martha Babcock Amory. George Redford, Art Sales, 2 vols. (London, 1888), 2: 20, thought the painting was bought in, but James Hughes Anderdon, who was at the sale, noted in his copy of the catalogue (Royal Academy) that there was a round of applause after the painting was auctioned [Jules David Prown, John Singleton Copley 2 vols. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1966), 2:404]. News of the sale appeared in the (Boston) Daily Advertiser, 19 March 1864. For Mrs. Amory's dates see John William Linzee, The Linzee Family of Great Britain and the United States of America, 2 vols. (Boston, 1917), 2:766.
[2] For Charles Amory's dates see Linzee 1917, 2:766; he placed the painting on loan at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
[3] Edward Linzee Amory continued the loan of the painting to the Museum of Fine Arts from 1898; his dates are in Linzee 1917, 2:766.
[4] For Copley Amory's dates see Linzee 1917, 2:795, and The New York Times, 18 April 1960, 29 (obituary).
[5] The birth date of Copley Amory, Jr. is in Linzee 1917, 2:796; his death date was provided by Walter Amory, 19 November 1990, to Ellen Miles.
[6] Birth and death dates are from Linzee 1917, 2:796, or have been provided by family members.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1777

  • Royal Academy, London, 1777, no. 61.

1862

  • International Exhibition, London, 1862, no. 51.

1873

  • Boston Atheneum, 1873, no. 144.

1874

  • Boston Atheneum, 1874, no. 130.

1888

  • Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1888-1916, 1921-1925.

1938

  • John Singleton Copley, 1738-1815, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1938, no. 22.

1941

  • On loan to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941-1951.

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. 61.

1974

  • American Self-Portraits 1670-1973, National Portrait Gallery, Washington; Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1974, no. 6 (shown in Washington only).

1980

  • La Pintura de Los Estados Unidos de Museos de la Ciudad de Washington, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 1980-1981, no. 1, color repro.

1995

  • John Singleton Copley in England, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1995-1996, no. 1, repro.

Bibliography

1777

  • "John's Impression," The Morning Chronicle, and London Advertiser, April 26, 1777.

  • The London Packet, or New Lloyd's Evening Post, April 25-28, 1777.

1832

  • Cunningham, Allan. The Lives of the Most Eminent British Painters, Sculptors and Architects. London, 1829-1833: 6 vols. (1832): 5:178-179.

1862

  • International Exhibition, Exh. cat. London, 1862, no. 51. [See Graves, Algernon. A Century of Loan Exhibitions London, 1912: 1:206, no. 51, "Family Portraits," lent by Lord Lyndhurst.

1867

  • Tuckerman, Henry T. Book of the Artists. New York, 1867: 79.

1873

  • Perkins, Augustus Thorndike. A Sketch of the Life and a List of Some of the Works of John Singleton Copley. Boston, 1873: 20-21, 48-49, 134.

1874

  • Boston Atheneum, Exh. cat. 1874, no. 130. [See Yarnall and Gerdts 1986, 825, under "Museum of Fine Arts, Boston."]

1881

  • Amory, Marth Babcock. "John Singleton Copley, R.A." _Scribner's Monthley_21 (March 1881): 763, engraved repro., 765.

1882

  • Amory, Martha Babcock. The Domestic and Artistic Life of John Singleton Copley, R.A.. Boston, 1882: 12, 23, 77-80, 106-107, 240, 262-263, 438.

1888

  • Cook, Clarence. Art and Artists of Our Time. 3 vols. New York, 1888: 3:159, repro., 160.

1890

  • Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts. Fourteenth Annual Report (for the year ending December 31, 1889). Boston, 1890: 46.

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. 140.

1895

  • Museum of Fine Arts. Catalogue of Paintings and Drawings, With a Summary of other Works of Art, Exhibited on the Second Floor, Boston, 1895: 17, no. 150.

1903

  • "Second Picture Gallery." Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin 1, no. 3 (July 1903): 18.

1905

  • Isham, Samuel. The History of American Painting. New York, 1905: 37-38, repro. 35.

1906

  • Handbook of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 1906: 102, repro.

1910

  • Bayley, Frank W. A Sketch of the Life and a List of Some of the Works of John Singleton Copley. Boston, 1910: 35.

1915

  • Bayley, Frank W. The Life and Works of John Singleton Copley. Boston, 1915: 35-36, 79, 101-102.

1924

  • Addison, Julia de Wolf. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Rev. ed. Boston, 1924: 6-7.

1930

  • Bolton, Theodore and Harry Lorin Binsse. "John Singleton Copley." The Antiquarian 15 (December 1930): 116.

1938

  • John Singleton Copley, 1738-1815, Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1938: no. 22.

  • Parker, Barbara Neville and Anne Bolling Wheeler. John Singleton Copley: American Portraits in Oil, Pastel, and Miniature with Biographical Sketches. Boston, 1938: 8-9.

1943

  • Walker, John, and MacGill James. Great American Paintings from Smibert to Bellows 1729-1924. London and New York, 1943: 22, pl. 11.

1944

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 140, color repro.

1951

  • Walker, John. Paintings from America. Harmondsworth, England, 1951: 16, 42, pl. 5.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 230, 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. 61.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:394, color repro.

  • Prown, Jules David. John Singleton Copley, 2 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966, pp. 61, 262-263, 373, 387, 403-404, 414-415, fig. 344, no. 192.

1968

  • Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 14-15, 155, color repro.

1970

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

1972

  • Curwen, Samuel. The Journal of Samuel Curwen, Loyalist. Andrew Oliver ed. 2 vols. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1972: 1:132; 2:701.

1974

  • American Self-Portraits 1670-1973. Exh. cat. National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Indianapolis Museum of Art. Washington, D.C., 1974: no. 6.

1975

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: color repro. 389.

1980

  • La Pintura de Los Estados Unidos de Museos de la Ciudad de Washington. Exh. cat. Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 1980-1981: no. 1.

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 13, no. 4, color repro.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 136, repro.

  • Wilmerding, John. American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850-1875, Paintings, Drawings, Photographs. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 46, color repro. 47.

1981

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 24, 30, color repro. 44-45.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 384, no. 545, color repro.

1986

  • Prown, Jules David. "Benjamin West's Family Picture: A Nativity in Hammersmith." In Honor of Paul Mellon, Collector and Benefactor: Essays.John Wilmerding, ed. Washington, 1986: 281, 286 n. 32, repro. 279.

1987

  • Lovell, Margaretta M. "Reading Eighteenth-Century American Family Portraits; Social Images and Self-Images." Winterthur Portfolio 22, no. 4 (Winter 1987): 256, repro. 259.

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 54, no. 4, color repro.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 150, repro.

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 210, repro.

1995

  • John Singleton Copley in England. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1995-1996: no. 1.

  • Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 46-54, color repro. 47.

1998

  • Boeckl, Christine M. "Self-Portraits: Men." In Helene E. Roberts, ed. Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:803.

1999

  • Zuffi, Stefano and Francesca Castria, La peinture baroque. Translated from Italian by Silvia Bonucci and Claude Sophie Mazéas. Paris, 1999: 391, color repro.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 286-287, no. 232, color repro.

2010

  • Carp, Benjamin L. Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party & the Making of America. New Haven, 2010: 72, fig. 14.

Wikidata ID

Q20178802

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