Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar": Officer in Four Poses
1785–86
Medium
Black chalk on blue laid paper
Dimensions
14 5/16 x 22 13/16 in. (36.4 x 57.9 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1960
Accession Number
60.44.17 verso
Tags
About this artwork
John Singleton Copley's preparatory drawing 'Study for The Siege of Gibraltar: Officer in Four Poses' exemplifies the American artist's meticulous approach to historical painting. Created in 1785-86, this black chalk drawing on blue laid paper represents one of numerous preparatory studies for Copley's monumental canvas 'The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar' (1791). Commissioned by the City of London in 1783 to depict the victory of the Great Siege during the American Revolutionary ...
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...