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John Singleton Copley

© Anne Douglas

Around 1735, Mary Singleton and Richard Copley were married in Ireland; the young couple set off for America one year later. They settled in Boston, where Richard became the proprietor of a tobacco shop. Into this modest life a baby boy was born on July 3, 1738. The child was named John Singleton after his maternal grandfather. Before young John was 10 years old his father had died; in May of 1748 his mother married Peter Pelham, a widower with 5 children.

Peter Pelham was an artist and schoolteacher; the joining of the Copley and Pelham households brought John Copley into direct contact with the tools and practice of making art. Sadly, Peter Pelham died in 1751, leaving John fatherless again, this time with an infant half brother. Although he was only 13, John was determined to supplement the family's income by making art. Using the tools his stepfather left behind, John Copley made his first prints and paintings in 1753. During this time John became friendly with John Smibert, another émigré who settled in Boston. Smibert was an accomplished portraitist, trained in Europe, and it was probably from him that John Copley learned that it was possible to make a living as an artist.

Peter Pelham's library familiarized John with contemporary writings about art and aesthetics, and from this he learned that imaginative renditions of historical or mythological scenes were considered the highest forms of art. Unfortunately, there was no market for this type of work in 18th-century Boston. To make a living as an artist in America Copley had to turn to portraiture, capturing on canvas the images of his wealthy mercantile neighbors. He worked hard and he worked constantly, refining his technique and improving his use of color and composition. He painted young and old, male and female, singly and in groups, formally and casually dressed. In 1765 Copley painted a portrait of his younger brother Henry. Copley sent this portrait (today called Boy with a Squirrel) to a friend in London for critique and display. The remarkable picture was praised by Joshua Reynolds and Benjamin West, who both urged Copley to come to Europe where he could study truly great painters. This created a dilemma for the talented young painter. Should he turn his back on his lucrative career to pursue indefinable artistic goals? For now, he chose to stay.

In 1769 John Copley married Susanna Clarke, the daughter of a Boston tea merchant. This joined him to one of the most prominent and politically active merchant families in Boston. John and Susanna - called Sukey - had a long and happy marriage and produced 6 children. They literally lived at the top of the town, near John Hancock at the peak of Beacon Hill. Copley continued to paint and to prosper, but the old questions still haunted him. Years earlier he complained in a letter to a British friend that his fellow Americans had no appreciation for artists. "The people generally regard it," he wrote, "no more than any other useful trade, as they sometimes term it, like that of a carpenter, tailor, or shoemaker, not as one of the most noble Arts in the world. Which is not a little mortifying to me." He began to plan a trip to Italy, to see at last the work of the great artists he had only read about.

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