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JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY, Autograph Letter Signed

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Autographs

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Rare Autograph Letter Signed By John Singleton Copley

JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY, Famous Colonial Era Painter and Artist.
December 29, 1794, Autograph Letter Signed, "Mr. Copley" (in the third person), 1 page, 9" x 7.25", Choice Very Fine. Boldly written in brown ink, this letter was likely written while he was in London, and it comes together along with its original envelope. It is addressed to Mr. John Thane of Panton Street, Hay Market (the noted art dealer, engraver and antiquarian). Here Copley writes asking for several portraits, which he needs to aid in his work on a major painting. Copley was preparing one of his historic canvases which incorporated images of several or numerous individuals. Copley also asks permission for Thane to make a print from one of his own portraits. He writes, in full:
"Mr. Copley presents compliments to Mr. Thane. Shall be much obliged to him for the portraits of Sir Henry Kingsby, Sir Benjn. Rudyard, Sir Henry Deering, and Francis Rowse. Mr. C - is now finishing that part of his picture and will soon return the above portraits to Mr. Thane - Mr. C - will not neglect the portrait of Sir H. Venn, he expects soon to see Lady Darlington and will certainly ask permission for Mr. Thane to make a print from it. Dec. 29, 94."
This letter has important content, illustrating how Copley was able to paint historical scenes with accurate portraits of individuals who had dispersed or died. Copley's letters are among the rarest of major American artists.

John Singleton Copley (1737-1815), a Bostonian by birth, had achieved great success as a portraitist while still in his teens. He began to send paintings to England for exhibition and to correspond with Benjamin West while he was still young. West and others urged him to go to London, but it was not until 1774, when Loyalist family connections began to make Copley's life difficult, that he left Boston. In England he continued to paint portraits, but also began to make historical paintings, a genre which Benjamin West and others had made fashionable. Such paintings usually included significant individuals who were not necessarily still living. Thane was one of the major British suppliers of engraved portraits in his day, and it would have been natural for Copley to turn to him as a source for images of important people who could not be painted from life. John Singleton Copley was very successful during his lifetime, but, as has been the case with so many artistic trail-blazers, his real significance was not appreciated until later.

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