Artist
John Singleton Copley (American, 1738–1815)American, 1738–1815
CultureAmerican
Titles
- Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar" (Study of Figures Pulling on a Rope)
Datec. 1785–1786
PlaceLondon, England
MediumBlack and white chalk on gray-blue paper
DimensionsSheet: 14 × 22 1/2 in. (35.6 × 57.2 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.54.29
Non exposé
Explore Further
Department
Bayou BendObject Type
This drawing is a study for the rope pullers at the left side of The Siege of Gibraltar (1791, Guildhall Art Gallery, London). Reminiscent of a violent scene from the Last Judgment, this portion of the canvas stood in stark contrast to the commemorative officer group at right, dominated by the commanding figure of General George Augustus Eliott (later Lord Heathfield).
Related examples: See B.54.27.
Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.
ProvenanceCollection of the artist, until 1815; descended to his son, John Singleton Copley, Jr., Lord Lyndhurst (1772–1863), London, to 1864; consigned to [Christie’s, London, The Lyndhurst Library Sale, February 26–27, 1864, lot 671]; Edward Basil Jupp, London; Amory family, Boston, descendants of the artist; given to the artist’s great grandson, Edward Linzee Amory (1844–1911), Boston, until 1911; given to his servant; [Charles D. Childs Gallery, Boston]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, 1954; given to MFAH, by 1966.
Exhibition HistoryHarry Shaw Newman Gallery, New York, May 1947.
“American Adversaries: West and Copley in a Transatlantic World,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 6, 2013–January 20, 2014.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
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[no marks]
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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John Singleton Copley
c. 1786–1787
Graphite and black and white chalk on gray-blue paper
B.54.27
John Singleton Copley
c. 1785–1786
Black and white chalk on gray-green paper
B.54.28
John Singleton Copley
c. 1785–1786
Black and white chalk on gray-blue paper
B.54.30
John Singleton Copley
c. 1782–1783
Graphite and black and white chalk on blue-gray paper
B.54.26
Richard Wilson
c. 1752
Black chalk, heightened with white chalk, white gouache, and gray wash on blue-gray laid paper
2021.290
Richard Wilson
1754
Black chalk with white chalk on gray blue laid paper; laid down on the artist's original mount of laid paper with lilac wash laid paper border
2019.288
Johann Zoffany
late 18th century
Black chalk with white chalk on gray blue laid paper
2019.677
Thomas Gainsborough
c. 1777
Gray washes over traces of black chalk and heightened with white chalk on laid paper
2017.429
Arthur Devis
c. 1750s
Black and red chalk heightened with white chalk on blue laid paper
2015.438
Francesco Morandini, called Il Poppi
c. 1571-1572
Black and white chalk on blue laid paper
2018.34
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