Docent Handbook - Artist Fact Sheet

Artist Name: COPLEY, JOHN SINGLETON Date: 1738-1815 Nationality: American Title/Date: St. Cecilia, a Portrait (Mrs. Richard Crowninshield Derby), 1803 Size: Framed, 108 x 72 inches Medium: Oil on Canvas Gallery Location: 4th Floor, Gallery 1

Salient Characteristics of this Work: - Portrait of Martha Crowninshield Derby in the guise of St. Cecilia, patron saint of music - Subject seems lost in her performance, not acknowledging the audience or the putti gazing at her - Emphasis on Mrs. Derby’s womanly qualities is developed through her interaction with the harp; balancing the harp, profile highlighted and focus on the grace/daintiness of her hands and feet o Empire-waist dress popular at the turn of the nineteenth century - Realistic painting of the wood and strings of the harp and the various textures of the clothing and furniture - Martha Crowninshield Derby o An American expatriate living in London who was aspiring to establish her reputation among the city’s social elite o Born Martha Coffin in 1783 o Married Richard Derby in 1800 and died, childless, in 1832 o One of the most beautiful women of her day - Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1804 o Dismissed by Copley’s rival, Benjamin West, president of the Royal Academy o Composition of the portrait is similar to Sir Joshua Reynolds’s 1775 portrait, Mrs. Sheridan as St. Cecilia

Salient Characteristics/Anecdotal Information of this Artist: - Colonial portraitist of noted English families and religious and historical subjects - Combining his talent for realism with the artifice of the London Aristocracy, his portraits were placed within theatrical settings, where both subject and artist perform - Personal style entails simplicity of design, fidelity of likeness, restrained but bold use of color, strong tonal contrasts and a concern with two dimensional surface pattern - Because the Royal Academy’s rules limited Copley to one guest at the 1804 opening, he was unable to bring his family with him and he boycotted the event

Information Narrative: - Born in Boston, 1738 - Taught engraving and painting by his stepfather, Peter Pelham - Began to produce works of art by 1753, when he was only 15 - Influenced by British painter Joseph Blackburn, he absorbed Blackburn’s Rococo style of color, composition, and elaborate drapery - First gained recognition in London at the 1766 exhibition of the Society of Artists of Great Britain with his portrait of Henry Pelham, Boy with a Squirrel - 1769, married Susanna Clarke, daughter of Richard Clarke, agent of the British East India Company in Boston - 1771, spent 6 months working in New York - July 10th, 1774, Copley permanently moved to London - Made a trip to Rome to study in the studio of Benjamin West for a year o Exposed to Classical antiquity and old masters - 1776, returned to London and elected an associate of the Royal Academy - 1779, elected an academician of the Royal Academy - At age 77, he had the first of two paralytic strokes and he died of the second on September 9, 1815

*All information compiled from the Mint Museum’s Artist Files