John Singleton Copley

Objectives:

Students will

• examine and analyze the qualities of John Singleton Copley's portraits of Nathaniel Hurd.

• visit the Memorial Art Gallery's exhibit, 'About Face: Copley's Portrait of a Colonial Silversmith' and complete worksheet based on the career of John Singleton Copley as a colonial American artist.

• reflect upon their findings on Copley's career with classmates after Gallery visit.

• step into the role of a portrait artist by creating a portrait of a classmate.

Lesson times:

If you attend the About Face exhibit at the Memorial Art Gallery, this lesson consists of suggested pre-visit, visit, and post-visit activities.

Vocabulary:

apprenticeship - a common way for young men to learn a trade during colonial times. Boys were often apprenticed to a master tradesman for a prescribed period of time to acquire the skills of the trade by watching and working with their experienced master.

patron - a wealthy person who financially supports an artist, or pays them to create art for them.

portrait - a work of art that represents a specific person.

trade - another name for the occupations people had during the colonial era. Usually it required some prior training through an apprenticeship during which time the necessary skills would be learned.

Prior Knowledge:

Students should have begun study of colonial America, with some basic background in pre-Revolutionary Boston.

Materials:

1. Images

Image #1

John Singleton Copley
American, 1737-1815
Nathaniel Hurd, ca. 1765

Memorial Art Gallery
Marion Stratton Gould Fund, 44.2

Image #2:

John Singleton Copley
American, 1737-1815
Nathaniel Hurd, ca. 1765
Oil on canvas, 30 3/8 x 25 3/8"

Cleveland Museum of Art
Gift of John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Portrait of Nathaniel Hurd from the Cleveland Museum of Art

Image #3

John Singleton Copley
American, 1737-1815
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Mifflin (Sarah Morris), 1773
Oil on ticking, 60 ½ x 48"

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Image #11

John Singleton Copley
American, 1737-1815
Paul Revere, 1768
Oil on canvas, 35 x 28 ½"

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Joseph W. Revere, William B. Revere, and Edward H.R. Revere 30.781

2. Artists in America: John Singleton Copley worksheet (HTML or Word)

3. Line drawing of Copley's portrait of Nathaniel Hurd (GIF file, printable on 8½x11" paper)

4. Large pieces of paper for making portraits

5. Markers/crayons/colored pencil

Lesson:

1. Prior to the MAG visit, compare images #1 & 2. Ask the students to compare the faces of these portraits.

• Which of these two people seem the most 'real' to you?

• What is it about the way the person is painted that makes them seem 'real'?

• What do the facial expressions of each of these people tell us about them?

• Who was responsible for creating these facial expressions?

What we are trying to get at here, is the exceptional way in which Copley painted Nathaniel Hurd's face in the MAG portrait (image #1). Copley's unfinished portrait of Nathaniel Hurd is expressive of the sitter's interior life and emotions much more than contemporary portraits from both Britain and America. As a matter of fact, there is even a dramatic difference between Copley's unfinished portrait (image #1) of Hurd and his finished portrait (image #2)! How can two depictions of the same man by the same artist be so different? In the unfinished MAG version, Hurd appears serious and introverted; a man with integrity. The finished portrait from the Cleveland Museum of Art shows a man that is aware of the viewer, but any indication of his feelings or his personality is entirely missing. He appears bright and amicable, but relatively one-dimensional. How did Copley achieve this difference? Why is one portrait more personally engaging than the other? There is something almost intangible about the effect Copley's depiction of Hurd's face (image #1) has on viewers; can you put your finger on what it is that gives this man such a soulful quality?

2. Now that the students have begun thinking about the way John Singleton Copley created portraits, they can pursue information about his life and career while on the gallery visit. Give each student a copy of the Artists in Colonial America: John Singleton Copley worksheet. Tell them that all the information needed to complete this sheet is in the 'About Face' exhibit, which will be discussed in class.

• Besides the silversmith, Nathaniel Hurd, who is the other important person in the 'About Face' exhibit who learned his trade through an apprenticeship?

• What was his trade?

• Who did he learn from

• According the exhibit, what other sources or influences did this person use in learning his trade? Explain your answers.

• Does this influence tell you anything about America's relationship with England in years preceding the American Revolution?

• Besides borrowing imagery from European artists, what did John Singleton Copley do to train himself as an artist?

3. After the visit to the MAG, project Copley's portraits of Nathaniel Hurd so students have visual imagery to direct their reflections.

4. Have students pair up to discuss what they have learned so far in this exercise. Can they synthesize their pre-visit critique of Copley's portraits of Nathaniel Hurd with the information they learned about Copley's career while at the gallery?

Think about it:

John Singleton Copley was unable to receive artistic training in America because, unlike Europe, the American colonies did not have any schools or academies for training artists. Why would Europe have art schools when America did not?

Follow-up (Option #1):
What would Nathaniel Hurd look like if he were a current day baseball player, carpenter, scientist, or mechanic? The students will complete the line drawing of the unfinished portrait of Hurd (attached) based on a 21st century occupation, or they can create their own portrait. In shaping their portrait in the manner of a contemporary occupation, they should consider gesture, mood, clothing, setting, pose, and attributes.

Follow-up (Option #2):
Put the students in the place of a colonial portrait painter. Tell them a little about Copley's working process while you show them some images of Copley's portraits to illustrate what you are telling them (Images #1-3, 11). Then allow them to figure out the way they want to create a portrait.

Copley was meticulous in his depiction of sumptuous materials, reflecting surfaces, flesh, and human hair in his portraits of Boston's elite. Can they see his attention to detail in his portraits (Images #1-3, 11)? What do they notice most? What do they think were the hardest details to capture? Copley's attention to detail resulted in his taking a very long time to complete a portrait. Unlike many of the artists in Europe, Copley did not have any assistants, he painted his many portraits all by himself. How long do the students think it would take them to paint a portrait like this?

Normally, the process of painting a portrait at this time in Europe and America began with the artist painting the sitter's face and hands first, as these were considered the most important parts of any portrait. This process of portrait painting is visible in the MAG's unfinished portrait of Nathaniel Hurd in which the face is almost completely painted while the clothing and background remain very sketchy (Rebora, p. 18).

Because Copley would complete the face and hands of a sitter first, these early sessions were when the sitter's presence was absolutely necessary. But during the remainder of the portrait when the figure's clothing and background were being painted, the sitter's presence was no longer mandatory. Copley would sometimes paint the clothing on his portraits' figures based on studying draped material or clothing on doll-sized figures called lay figures. With this working technique, Copley could take his time painting the rest of the portrait without occupying the time of his patrons. In this way, Copley was able to spend the time it took to truly capture the sumptuous clothing and settings his patrons wanted in their portraits (Saunders, p. 67).

Have students pair up and try to draw a portrait of their partner. The students will find this is not so easy to do. The result of each portrait will be a combined effort of the artist and the sitter.

• What will the person be wearing?

• What will they be holding?

• How do the students handle these questions?

• Does the sitter have as much say as the artist does?

After the portraits are complete, have the students hang up their portraits and explain why they depicted the sitter the way they did.

• What did the artist include in the portrait to make the person recognizable?

• How much input did the sitter have in their portrait?

• How would their experience have been any different if the sitter were paying the artist to paint their portrait?

Follow-up (Option #3):

John Singleton Copley taught himself to paint by studying the European masters. See how Copley copied ideas and figures from earlier famous masterpieces:

www.nga.gov/feature/watson/index.html

*This website looks at Copley's painting Watson and the Shark, which he painted in London after leaving America. This site focuses upon the story behind the painting, the artist, the formal elements of the painting, and the historical and artistic influences on Copley.

Evaluation:
Students will be assessed on their active participation in the observation and discussion of the two portraits of Nathaniel Hurd by John Singleton Copley, their exploration at the Gallery visit, post-visit reflections on their experiences at the Gallery, and their thoughtful creation of their partner's portrait. Students should have an understanding of the basic issues concerning the career of John Singleton Copley and the role of artists in colonial America.

Summary:
Their pre-visit inquiry and observation activity, active searching and viewing exercise at the Gallery, and their post-visit creation of a portrait of their classmate will provide students with insight into the career of John Singleton Copley and the role of artists in colonial America.

References:

King, Penny and Roundhill Clare. Artist's Workshop: Portraits. Crabtree Publishing Company...

This book contains creative suggestions and activities on how kids can make portraits. These activities include a historical element by using portraits by well-known artists as examples.

Sources:

Rebora, Carrie, "Transforming Colonists into Goddesses and Sultans: John Singleton Copley, His Clients, and Their Studio Collaboration," The American Art Journal, vol. XXVII, numbers 1 & 2, 1995-1996. pp. 4-37

Saunders, Richard H. and Miles, Ellen G. American Colonial Portraits: 1700-1776. Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Portrait Gallery, Washington City, 1987.