John Singleton Copley & The Ermine Drape

.What a lovely drape for a portrait. I wish they had similar drapes when I was in school, and the photographers draped black velvet capelets over our shoulders. These ermine Turkish style robes were the perfect complement to the classical portrait costume, in which ladies could be portrayed as timeless entities. No constricting stays, no whims of constantly changing fashion, just a fanciful portrait costume placing them in the ancient cultures so popular during the 18th century.

1761 English Mezzotint by Artist Thomas Frye after a painting of Maria, Countess of Coventry1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Elizabeth Byles (Mrs. Gawen Brown).
1767 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Ann Dumaresq (Mrs. William Turner)1767 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Elizabeth Cross (Mrs. Joseph Green).1771 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Hannah Fitch (Mrs. Joseph Barrell)..

John Singleton Copley Paints Older Women

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1763 Sarah Tyler (Mrs. Samuel Phillips Savage)
1764 Miriam Kilby (Mrs. Samuel Hill)Whether painting fancy matrons wearing the latest fashions or plainly dressed, more formal religious women, many of John Singleton Copley's paintings of older New England women seem more direct, thoughtful, & stronger than his portraits of younger women.

1764 Mrs. Anna Dummer Powell.Copley lets us know that these are the surviving matriarchs who deserve the best upholstered chair in the candlelit parlor. Old age offers the leisure & independence to read & to reflect.

1766 Sarah Morecock (Mrs. Thomas Boylston).Many are holding books, actively involved in the life of the mind & the world beyond Boston. Copley & his sitters decided to show that continuing to seek knowledge was important in 18th century New England whether for devotion, entertainment, or instruction.

1766 Mrs-Sylvanus-Bourne.

1766 Ann Sargent (Mrs. Nathaniel Ellery).

1767-69 Mary Edwards (Mrs Ebenezer Storer).

1767 Hannah White (Mrs Robert Hooper).

1769 Mrs. Isaac Royall.
1770 Katherine Graves (Mrs James Russell).
1770 Relief Dowse (Mrs Michael Gill).1771 Mary Charnock (Mrs. Humphrey Devereux, Mrs. Samuel Greenwood, Mrs. Joseph Prince)

1771 Mrs. Paul Richard (Elizabeth Garland)
1771 Elizabeth Lewis (Mrs Ezekiel Goldthwait).
1773 Hannah Fayerweather (Mrs John Winthrop)..

John Singleton Copley Borrows Another Pose

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1755 Mezzotint by English artist James McArdell after Sir Joshua Reynolds Mrs. Bonfoy.This print may be seen at the British Museum in London.
1765 Artist: John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Subject: Elizabeth Oliver (Mrs. George Watson).

Copley & Greenwood Copy Same Girl, Same Pearls, Same Pose

.1710-30 English artist Isaac Becket after Willem Wissing's portrait of Princess Anne. Mezzotint may be viewed at Henry Francis duPont Winterthur Museum and at the British Museum in London.
1749 Artist: John Greenwood (1727-1792). Subject: Elizabeth Fulford Welshman.1753 Artist: John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) Subject: Bethia Torrey (Mrs. Joseph Mann)..

John Singleton Copley Copies British Print

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1760 English artist James McArdell after Sir Joshua Reynolds Lady Caroline Russell Mezzotint may be viewed at the Yale Center for British Art or at the British Museum in London.

1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Mrs Jerathmael Bowers..

Women in Blue by John Singleton Copley

.c 1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Lydia Lynde.
1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) Hannah Loring.

1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) Anne Fairchild (Mrs Metcalf Bowler)
1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Mary Turner (Mrs. Daniel Sargent).1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Mercy Otis (Mrs James Warren).
1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Mrs Alice Hooper1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Sarah Sargent (Mrs. Nathaniel Allen)1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) Mary Tappan (Mrs Benjamin Pickman).

John Singleton Copley Paints 3 Cousins in Same Brown Dress

.1746 English Mezzotint by artist John Faber, Jr., after Thomas Hudson, The Right Honourable Mary Finch, Viscountess Andover. (The print my be seen at the British Museum in London and at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California.)

In 1763, these 3 sitters apparently planned with John Singleton Copley to be portrayed in nearly identical brown costumes & outdoor settings copied from John Faber's 1746 English mezzotint. Lucretia Chandler Murray & Mary Greene Hubbard were cousins. Mary Greene Hubbard was also a cousin of Katherine Greene Amory.

It is likely that Copley finished these portraits in his studio over a period of months. He probably painted heads & hands in person and added settings & costumes to his subjects at a later date. He was incredibly busy, and he often did not finish his portraits one at a time.

In October 1757, Capt. Thomas Ainslie of Nova Scotia wrote to Copley that he had received his portrait, which "gives me great Satisfaction." Ainslie and others invited Copley to come to Canada "where there are several people who would be glad to employ You."Copley replied: "I should receive a singular pleasure in excepting, if my Business was anyways slack, but it is so far otherwise that I have a large Room full of Pictures unfinished, which would ingage me these twelve months if I did not begin any others."

1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Mary Greene (Mrs. Daniel Hubbard).1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Lucretia Chandler (Mrs John Murray).
1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) Katherine Greene (Mrs John Amory)..