John Singleton Copley was born into the family of an Irish immigrant named Richard Copley and his wife Mary Singleton Copley. Though no record of the birth was made, the date is believed to have been July 3, 1738. His parents owned and ran a tobacco shop in Boston. By 1748, Richard Copley had died, though the exact date of this is also unknown, but on May 22, 1748 his widow married Peter Pelham, an engraver and teacher, and moved with her son to a quieter and more respectable part of Boston.
1753-54. Oil on canvas. Private collection.
1753. Oil on canvas. 91 x 72 cm. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA.
1754. Oil on canvas. 91 x 72 cm. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA.
1756. Oil on canvas. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA.
1757. Oil on canvas, 124.5 x 99.1 cm. The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, USA.
1757-58. oil on canvas, Rhode Island School of Design, Museum of Art, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
c.1758. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA.
c.1760. Oil on canvas. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA. Read Note.
1761. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA. Read Note.
c.1763. Oil on canvas. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA.
1763. Oil on canvas. 126.4 x 99.7 cm . The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
1763. oil on canvas, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
1763. Oil on canvas. Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, CA, USA.
1763. Oil on canvas. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT, USA. Read Note.
1763. Oil on canvas. 127 x 101 cm. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA.
1763. Oil on canvas. 127 x 101 cm. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA. Read Note.
1763. Oil on canvas. 127 x 102 cm. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA.
c.1764. Oil on canvas, 127.6 x 100.9 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
1764. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA.
1765. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA. Read Note.
The World of Copley. 1738-1815 by Alfred Frankenstein. Time-Life Books. 1970
The Yale Dictionary of Art and Artists by Erika Langmuir and Norbert Lynton.2000.
America's Old Masters: Benjamin West, John Singleton Copley, Charles Wilson Peale and Gilbert Stuart by James Thomas Flexner. Dover Publications, 1994.
John Singleton Copley in America by Carrie Rebora, Paul Staiti. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995.
Art In A Season Of Revolution: Painters, Artisans, And Patrons In Early America by Margaretta M. Lovell. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005.
John Singleton Copley by James Thomas Flexner. Fordham University Press, 1993.