John Singleton Copley

John Singleton Copley stands among the foremost colonial and early republican portrait painters, working chiefly in oil on canvas to capture merchants, officers, and family members with sober, direct observation. His draftsmanship extended to ambitious figure studies, worked out in black chalk heightened with white on blue paper, alongside intimate portraits in pastel and watercolor on ivory. The sheets gathered here, dating from 1753 to 1810, with impressions up to that later year, number forty-seven in all and reflect this range of media. Portraits such as Daniel Crommelin Verplanck and Joseph Sherburne sit beside preparatory drawings for The Siege of Gibraltar, including studies of cheering groups, sprawling figures, and dying sailors.

47 works in the collection · All public domain (CC0)

Elizabeth Greenleaf

1753–54 · Oil on canvas

John Greenleaf

1753–54 · Oil on canvas

Hugh Hall

1758 · Pastel on off-white laid paper, mounted on canvas

John St. Clair

1758 · Oil on copper

Mrs. Edward Green (Mary Storer)

1765 · Pastel on laid paper, mounted on canvas

Mrs. Sylvanus Bourne

1766 · Oil on canvas

Mrs. Ebenezer Storer (Mary Edwards)

1767–69 · Pastel on laid paper, mounted on canvas

Self-portrait

1769 · Watercolor on ivory

Daniel Crommelin Verplanck

1771 · Oil on canvas

Gulian Verplanck

1771 · Oil on canvas

Samuel Verplanck

1771 · Oil on canvas

Mrs. John Winthrop

1773 · Oil on canvas

Study for "The Ascension"

1774 · Ink ("Bistre") washes, pen and ink, black chalk, and graphite on off-white laid paper, watercolor

Study for "The Death of the Earl of Chatham"

1779 · Black chalk and white-chalk heightening on blue laid paper

Midshipman Augustus Brine

1782 · Oil on canvas

Study for "Elkanah Watson"

1782 · Black chalk and white-chalk heightening on blue laid paper

Study for "The Tribute Money"

1782 · Black chalk and white-chalk heightening on blue laid paper

Study for "The Death of Major Peirson": Group of Dying French Officers

1782–83 · Black chalk on light blue laid paper

Study for "The Death of Major Peirson": Two Dead Figures

1782–83 · Black chalk and white-chalk heightening on light blue laid paper

Study for "John Adams"

1783 · Black chalk, white-chalk heightening, and graphite on blue laid paper

Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar": Figure Reaching; Sprawling Figures; Cheering Group; Dying Sailors

1785–86 · Black chalk and white-chalk heightening on light blue laid paper

Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar": Three Officers, Two Standing and One Kneeling

1785–86 · Black chalk and white-chalk heightening on blue laid paper

Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar": Figure Astride Cannon Pulling Down Spanish Colors

1785–86 · Black chalk, white-chalk heightening, and graphite on blue laid paper

Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar": The Wrecked Longboat

1785–86 · Pen and brown ink and black chalk on off-white laid paper

Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar": Figures Astride Spar

1785–86 · Black and red chalk and white-chalk heightening on dark blue laid paper

Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar": Figures Scaling Floating Battery; Cannon

1785–86 · Black and red chalk on blue laid paper

Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar": Three Figures

1785–86 · Black and red chalk on blue laid paper

Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar": Sprawling Figures

1785–86 · Black chalk on off-white laid paper

Study for 'The Siege of Gibraltar': Officer in Four Poses

1785–86 · Black chalk on blue laid paper

Study for "The Surrender of the Dutch Admiral De Winter to Admiral Duncan, October 11, 1797": Two Studies of a Man with a Sail or Flag

1798 · Black and red chalk, white-chalk heightening, and graphite on blue laid paper

Study for "The Surrender of the Dutch Admiral De Winter to Admiral Duncan, October 11, 1797": Admiral De Winter Raising the Colors

1798 · Black chalk, white-chalk heightening, and gouche on blue laid paper

Study for "The Surrender of the Dutch Admiral De Winter to Admiral Duncan, October 11, 1797": Three Figures Raising the Colors

1798 · Black and red chalk and white-chalk heightening on blue laid paper

Study for "The Surrender of the Dutch Admiral De Winter to Admiral Duncan, October 11, 1797": Lord Admiral Duncan

1798 · Black and red chalk and white-chalk heightening on blue laid paper

Study for "The Knatchbull Family": Norton Joseph Knatchbull

1800–1802 · Black chalk, white-chalk heightening, and graphite on dark blue laid paper

Study for "The Knatchbull Family": Sir Edward Knatchbull

1800–1802 · Black chalk, white-chalk heightening, and graphite on dark blue laid paper

The Return of Neptune

ca. 1754 · Oil on canvas

Moses Gill

ca. 1759 · Oil and gold leaf on copper

Mrs. Jerathmael Bowers

ca. 1763 · Oil on canvas

Elizabeth Green (Mrs. Ebenezer Storer II)

ca. 1767 · Pastel on paper mounted on canvas

Ebenezer Storer II

ca. 1767 · Pastel on paper mounted on canvas

Ebenezer Storer

ca. 1767–69 · Pastel on laid paper mounted on canvas

Joseph Sherburne

ca. 1767–70 · Oil on canvas

Jeremiah Lee

ca. 1769 · Watercolor on ivory

Richard Dana

ca. 1770 · Oil on canvas

Watson and the Shark

ca. 1778 · Oil on canvas

Two Equestrian Figures, Possibly a Study for "George IV, Prince of Wales"

ca. 1803–13 · Black chalk and white-chalk heightening on blue wove paper

Sailors Maneuvering a Cannon, Possibly a Study for "The Death of Sir John More at Corunna"

ca. 1810 · Black chalk and white-chalk heightening on blue laid paper