John Singleton Copley
Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar" (Study of Figures Pulling on a Rope)

Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar" (Study of Figures Pulling on a Rope)

Public Domain

Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar" (Study of Figures Pulling on a Rope)
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 Bend
Description

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
[no inscriptions]
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar" (Study of Lieutenant Colonel Lindsay and Figures Pulling on a Rope)
John Singleton Copley
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Graphite and black and white chalk on gray-blue paper
B.54.27
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B.54.28
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B.54.30
Study for William Murray, First Earl of Mansfield
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