Ebenezer Storer II
ca. 1767
Medium
Pastel on paper mounted on canvas
Dimensions
23 1/8 x 17 1/8 in. (58.7 x 43.5 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Morris K. Jesup Fund and Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 2008
Accession Number
2008.249.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
John Singleton Copley's *Ebenezer Storer II* (ca. 1767) captures the poised likeness of a prominent Boston merchant and civic leader in a striking pastel portrait. Created on the cusp of the American Revolution, this work exemplifies Copley's mastery as colonial America's preeminent portraitist, renowned for his unflinching realism and ability to convey individual character through direct gazes and textured details. The soft, luminous quality of pastel on paper—mounted on canvas for durability—lends the image a delicate vibrancy, highlighting Storer's refined attire and introspective expressio...
About the Artist
John Singleton Copley · 1738–1815
John Singleton Copley (1738–1815) was the greatest American painter of the colonial era and one of the finest portraitists in the English-speaking world. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he was largely self-taught, learning from mezzotint reproductions of European paintings and from his stepfather Peter Pelham, an engraver. By his early twenties, Copley had established himself as Boston's leading po...