Artwork
Sketch for The Copley Family
Sketch for The Copley Family is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist John Singleton Copley. It dates from 1776 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
As a preparatory work for the larger family portrait, the piece utilizes the artist's standard medium of oil paint applied to a woven canvas support.
Executed in 1776, Sketch for The Copley Family is an oil painting on canvas. As a preparatory work for the larger family portrait, the piece utilizes the artist's standard medium of oil paint applied to a woven canvas support. The work remains in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., having been acquired as a gift in 1991 from Richard T. York.
While the sources confirm the material composition and date, they do not provide specific details regarding the brushwork, surface condition, or distinct handling techniques employed by Copley in this particular sketch.
History & Provenance
John Singleton Copley created the oil-on-canvas sketch for The Copley Family in 1776. The work remained within the artist's extended family for over a century, originally passing to his grandson, John Singleton Copley Greene, in Brookline, Massachusetts. It subsequently descended to Greene's daughter, Mary Amory Greene, in Boston, and later to her sister-in-law, Rosalind Huidekoper Greene, in Cambridge.
Ownership then transferred to Rosalind's daughter, Joy Singleton Copley Greene Sweet, before the piece entered the commercial market through Hirschl & Adler Galleries in New York in 1978.
Following brief ownership by Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr., in Los Angeles, the painting was acquired by Richard T. York of New York. York gifted the work to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1991, where it remains part of the permanent collection.
The work is held by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., to which it was given as a gift in 1991 by Richard T. York. Its provenance traces through the artist's descendants, beginning with his grandson John Singleton Copley Greene, then to Mary Amory Greene, Rosalind Huidekoper Greene, and Joy Singleton Copley Greene Sweet, before passing through Hirschl & Adler Galleries and collectors Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr. and Richard T. York. No specific exhibition history is documented in the provided sources.
Overview
John Singleton Copley executed this oil on canvas in 1776 as a preparatory study for a larger family portrait. The composition presents a domestic interior that opens onto a pastoral landscape, rendered in a warm, golden palette. Though modest in scale, the work demonstrates the artist’s careful planning of figure placement and lighting before committing to the final piece.
Subject & Meaning
At the centre sits a woman in a white dress and hat, cradling one child on her lap while another child stands beside her. The mother’s gaze is directed toward the infant, her hand resting gently on the child’s chest, suggesting tenderness and protection. The standing child looks up to the mother, emphasizing familial affection and the intimate bonds of everyday life.
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Artist & collection
Artist
John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an American-born British painter active in both the Thirteen Colonies and England.
