Compare and Contrast, Copley

A detailed Summary of Compare and Contrast, Copley

John Singleton Copley was born on July 3rd 1738. The son of a widowed tobacco shop owner, he was influenced artistically for the most part by his stepfather, Peter Pelham. Mr. Pelham was an Engraver by trade who married Copley's mother when John was ten years old. Through Mr. Pelham, John had access to some of the leading colonial artists of the day. One artist in particular, John Smibert, often brought his portraits to Mr. Pelham to be reproduced. Looking at Copley's early work, we can see that this had some influence on the artist in his youth.

With very little exception, most of J.S. Copley's works were portraits. In colonial New England, art was mainly valued as a way of recording likeness. A young Copley had hoped to stake his reputation with portraits and then move on to classical and mythological themes as seen in the Renaissance period.

One of Copley's most notable portraits was a family picture from 1776-1777 entitled "The Copley Family". It was painted by him af

Following in Copley's footsteps was an American painter named Charles Willson Peale. He was a saddle maker by trade who took up painting after seeing some artwork in Virginia. He is believed to have worked with Copley in Boston briefly before 1767. Like Copley, he made a living painting portraits. One in particular that caught my attention was "The Peale Family", painted in 1809. I can see a marked resemblance between it and "The Copley Family". For one, the children's eyes in both of the paintings have a wide and dark look to them. However, Peale altered the shape based on facial expression while Copley maintained the same basic shape throughout. Both of the families appear to be divided into two groups. In Copley's work, the one group extends from Elizabeth to the left while in Peale's the line is drawn from the older women in the background to the right. Copley's painting lacks the familiar family pet often illustrated in his previous works (perhaps he didn't have one

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Approximate Word count = 661
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts

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