Word: copley
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...even more grievous loss is John Singleton Copley, perhaps the greatest painter this country has yet produced. Still only 38, he is just now reaching the peak of his powers. There is scarcely an eminent person in Boston who has not sat for him, and his portrait of Silversmith Paul Revere is masterly. (He has also portrayed many non-Bostonian notables like Thomas Mifflin, who was recently made a brigadier general in the Continental Army.) But it was his fortune, or misfortune, to marry the daughter of Boston's most successful dealer in tea, Richard Clarke...
Among those who remain in the embattled Colonies, the master of portrait painting is undoubtedly Charles Willson Peale. If Peale lacks something of Copley's consummate dexterity at catching a character in mid-gesture, he nevertheless seems more unpretentiously honest; perhaps, it might be said, more distinctively American. Unlike West and his London friends, who often seem to paint at the kneel before their distinguished subjects, Peale has always looked at his sitters...
...neighbor, the established portraitist John Hessilius, and advertised as a sign painter. In 1765, pressed by his Tory creditors for both his debts and his patriotic views, Peale fled Maryland with the sheriff literally at his door. He took advantage of his exile to study briefly in Boston with Copley himself. On his return, the Annapolis gentry were so impressed with his new skills that they forgave him his debts and even raised a fund so that he could go to London and study with West...
Splendid as Peale is, and as Copley was before him, there is another tradition in American art that has been too little appreciated. That is the tradition of the simple journeymen artists who make their living by painting likenesses for pleasantly prosperous people in areas outside our few cities. Like peddlers, they come to the door and inquire whether the master or mistress wants a portrait painted. Their range is the range of their feet (or perhaps their horse), and their reputation passes by word of mouth in the town squares or local taverns. Their knowledge of Europe is gathered...
Nevertheless, Freddie is usually on time for his concerts, which means you should be off the Green Line stop at Copley Square in time to make the 8:30 or 11 p.m. shows...