John Singleton Copley
Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar" (Study for a Figure on a Cannon in the Longboat)
- Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar" (Study for a Figure on a Cannon in the Longboat)
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This drawing, which relates to the cascade of figures that make up the dramatic rescue tableau on the left side of Copley’s finished canvas, reveals Copley’s varied techniques in making preparatory sketches. The artist has combined both broadly handled, loose suggestions of movement and form and crisply delineated figures on one sheet. He also includes indications of light and shade through firm hatching.
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.
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.
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