The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-04-30
John Singleton Copiey.

agree with the authors of the Rheims and
Douay translation. N. W. 81.
John Singleton CopIey.
A new memoir OF John Singleton Cbplcv
by his late granddaughter. Mrs AMoRY Of Bos-
ton. might be expected tn afford much original
Information concerning painter who prac-
tsed his art in the town OF his birth until near
the middle age OF life, and who when exiled by
the force Of circumstances rather than by
choice. from his native land. accomplished
nothing by his own confession. which satisfied
him 80 we'll as his earlier work. In this regard
the book is likely TO prove disappointment.
But il it throws comparatively little additional
light upon Copley's career In Boston. the fault
may not be altogether that OF the biographer.
for it must be confessed that his life in that
town was in no sense an eventful one. The
struggles encountered BY obscure youths OF ge-
MUS to acquire position and fame never fell TO
his lot. Reared in comfortable circumstances
and of respectable connections. he rose by easy
gradations to the position OF the first painter
Of his time in America. as he was the only one
of our earlier artists OF distinction who per-
fectsd himself in his calling without the aid OF
foreign tuition or example.
In this respect Copley's experience was re-
markabe ono. Men like Trumbull. Stuart.
Aston. or yanderlyn made no pretence Of
painting at homo until they had attended the
academies OF the old world. and studied the
works OF the great masters. Copleyi was al
most exclusively self-taught Boston. in the
middle Of the last century. was but meagrely
supplied with works Of art and these were
mostly confined to portraits. A vandyke or
two. OF very doubtful authenticity. a stray
Kneler. and few dry and forbidding heads by
Smybert com prised the art treasures then ac-
cessible to the student Of painting. They could
have had little influence in forming his style
or developing his technical knowledge, al
though the latter may have been aided by the
example OF his stepfather. Peter Pelham. who
painted and engraved in a small way. Almost
without teacher or model. he slowly and eau
tiously felt his way. and his biographer records
that the very colors OF his palette and the
brushes that he handled were Of his own manu-
facture. The people among whom he lived.
moreover. had scarcely emerged from the aus
terity Of Puritan manners and morals and the
painter if not looked upon as a direct ally Of
the devil. was not regarded very useful
or desirable member Of society. As Inner
OF the human form or features he was tolerated.
and as wealth increased and an atistocratic
class began to assert itself. he received a GER
tain degree OF encouragement Beyond the
domain Of portrature he might not venture.
and our artist never executed for his towns
men a single work exhibiting invention or
imaginative power. A portrait Of his half broth
err. Harry Pelham. entitled The Boy and the
Squirrel" painted probably when he had passed
his thirtieth year, and which he sent to tho
exhibition OF the Royal Academy. was actually
the first work of any mark produced in North
America which rose above tile level OF conven-
tional portraiture. 1t aroused little enthusiasm
lao, - tG.au Hat Nphn pt
for years afterwari painting the monotonous
round OF colonial masnates and matrons. Such
practice might have quenched the latent spark
Of genius in most men and reduced them to the
condition OF patien. drudges. With Copley
nothing OF the kind happened. He swallowed
his disappointment. il indeed he experienced
any. and contented himself with perfe ting his
technical knowledge. satisfied that the timo
would come when. under moro enliSht-
encd encouragement. he could show of what
stuff he was made. He even looked back
in after years of success and reputation with
snsular satisfaction to this period OF his life
and was always eager 70 buy his earlier works
in which he detected technical qualities never
attcrward exceeded or perhaps equaed
Coplcy began the practice OF his art in Boston
about 1854, when he was II years OF age, and in
1856 he had for a sitter MAYOR George Wash
Lpl lIISh lIObl % 'N'A'S ph Lilt lllhlllD-
rable field Of Bradlock : defeat. oil whom he eN-
ecuted miniature likeness. now or recently in
tho possession Of tho family of the late George
P. Putnam Of this city. Ten years later he was
fully established as the chief If not the solo
painter OF the town. his principal rival one
Blackburn. an artist Of respe table attain
mcnts. having boon completely driven from the
field by his youthful competitor. As a portrait
painter his style at this time and perhaps
throughout his life. was opon 70 the charge Of
dryness. He painted people As no found them,
and ii his likeneSses are sometimes Of COM
monpace type. tho fault was duo to the
sitter and not to the artist. The provincial
aristocracy who chiefly employed him, had not
yet acquired the easy carriage and high bred
grace OF their compeers In England portrayed
by the pencil OF Reynolds. Hence his outlines
are sometimes hard. and his figures stiff and
unganly. At the present day those defects
might prove fatal to the reputation Of an artist
But Copey fortunately lived at a time whom
clumsy figures and hard-cut features acquired
a certain dignity from the magnificent apparel
by which they were envirOned. or this crcum-
stance he did not fail to take advantage, His
draperies ARE invariably we'll painted. and by
the aid OF such accessories as velyrts. brocades
silks satins. and other rich stuif5. in which our
ancestors delighted. not to mention perukos
laced and embroidered waistcoats and coats.
cooked hats. and swords-the whole parapher-
MALTA in fact OF a modish age-he often sue
ceedsd in giving to his lkeneSses something Of
an arlstocratc air. Under other influences he
might have proved court painter as popular
as Lely. As it is. the colonial worthless Of New
England look out with very tolerable degree OF
oomplacency from his canvases. The Win
throps. Boylstons, Quncys, Langdons. Hub
bards, Adamses Hutchinsons Hancocks and
Pepperells all sat to him. and their likonessos
are priced not merely for their intrinsic merits
as paintings. but as evidences OF respectable do
scent; so that It was once common remark