Evening star., 1937-09-25
By Leila MechHn.

artists. Two of these are by John
Singleton Copley, from whom the
lender is descended. The third is of
= Copley's son-in-law, Gardiner Greene
of Boston. and is by Francis Alexan-
der. pupil Of Gilbert Stuart.
Most notable of this group is the
large canvas depicting the Copley
family. painted in London. shortly
after the Copleys took up residence
there in Revolutionary days, and in
cludes not only Copley, his wife and
TOUR children-one boy and three girls
but also his father-in-law, Richard
Clarke, wealthy Boston merchant and
intrepid Tory, to whom the cargo of
tea destroyed in the Boston Tea
Party was consigned.
1t is charming composition, we'll
arranged, in the then prevailing style.
bounded by draperies in the FORE
ground and offset by landscape back
ground. A touch of domestic intimacy
is given by a treasured doll thrown
down at the left corner of the canvas
and most carefully portrayed. The
little boy in this picture was destined
later to become Lyndhurst and to serve
three times as lord chancellor of Eng
land The little girl in the immediate
foreground was the great grandmother
b of Mr. Copley Amory. The portrait
has never been out of the possession
of the family.
In THE whole history of American
art, there is perhaps no more in
teresting figure than John Singleton
Copley, and none whose achievement
better illustrates the fact that artists
are born-not made. His parents tboth
of English stock emigrated from Ire
land to New England via the West
Indies. Before very long after their
arrival. the father died, and in 1748
Mrs. Copley remarked, taking as her
second. husband Peter Pelham, painter
and mezzotint engraver and teacher of
reading. writing and other accom-
plishments.
Pelham's influence on his stepson's
ert (although it extended over brief
period was very great. and despite
the fact that Copley was only IA years
old at the elder persons death. he was
well grounded by Pelham in drawing
and the rudiments of painting and
engraving. Children matured earlier
in those days than in these. When
Copley was only 13 he painted a
portrait of his stepfather. The follow
, ing year he did one of his half
brother. Charles Pelham, which was
followed by one of the Rev. William
Welsteed. of which he made and pub
lished an engraving. BY the time he
was II he had set up as a portrait
painter, and before he was 2l he was
well established in Boston as an artist
of large standing.
This seems to us today little short
of miraculous, considering the meager-
ness of his education and oppor-
ttunities for study. But he had un-
doubtedly had access not only to
works by Smibert. Blackburn and
other itinerant painters from abroad,
but also to paintings of European
masters brought to this country by
well-to-do families: and he was born
in an age when wave of good paint
ing crested-no one knew how or why
doubt as to the year of Copley's
birth-some give it as 1737-others as
1913. The Metropolitan Museum of
Art. New York with the majority,
= accepts the former, hence it held its
Copley commemorative exhibition the
first of the current year, while the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, holding
to the second, postponed one until
after the first of next January. In
any event the day was July 3, as at
tested in letter written by his
daughter.
Up to 1774 Copley made his home
In Boston, buying and living on a
farm. located between what is now
the Common" and the Charles River.
His house was approximately where
the State House now stands, and to
his studio there went to be painted
many of the leading citizens of New
England. among them founders of
the Republic and our cherished in
stitutions, as we'll as their ladies'"
women of stern character and dignity |
As well-known writer has said, John
Singleton Copley was typical product !
of early Boston, and his portraits en-
body the very life and breath of
aristocratic New England Indeed, |
the possession of Copley portrait has
long since been regarded as a badge |
Aof aristocracy Some of the austerity |
of pioneer days and New England !
puritanism found its way into the |
portraits Copley painted in this coun-
try, despite the fact that, from the |
very first and until the end, he de- |
lighted in depicting textiles, painting
costumes with infinite and at times
meticulous care
The current of Copleys life seems
to have been largely determined by
external events. and certainly his
career was influenced by the inter
vention of persons who we're but re-
motely connected with him by family
ties or business associations. 1t was
through the influence of one sea-
faring friend that he was persuaded
to spend the Winter of It'll in New
York, which added to his revenues as
well as to his reputation and circle
OF acquaintanceship; and it was
through another, Capt r. G. Bruce,
that his work was brought to the at
tention of Benjamin West and ex-
hibited in London. In 1865. when
Bruce was contemplating voyage to
England, he persuaded Copley to let
him take with him the portrait of
his half-brother, Henry Pelham, en-
titled Boy With Squirrel" that it
might be displayed in one of the
London shows. Copley consenting,
Capt. Bruce sailed off with the can
vas. and on arrival in London took it
to Benjamin West, American-born
genius and tireless friend of all
American painters, who Immediately
wrote Copley in high commentator,
brought it to Reynolds attention,
and entered it in the Society OF
Artists current exhibition, where it