1782, John Singleton Copley, Midshipman Augustus Brine -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
From the museum label: Troubled by political instability on the eve of the American Revolution, Copley left his native Boston for London in 1774. He found success there with portraits and history paintings that built on the achievements of his early work. This example depicts a thirteen-year-old midshipman (apprentice officer) in the British Royal Navy who would eventually rise to the rank of rear admiral. Copley captured the boy's flowing locks and starched linens with bold brushwork that reveals his careful study of seventeenth-century portraits--particularly those by Anthony van Dyck, another immigrant artist who made his name in England.
1782, John Singleton Copley, Midshipman Augustus Brine -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
From the museum label: Troubled by political instability on the eve of the American Revolution, Copley left his native Boston for London in 1774. He found success there with portraits and history paintings that built on the achievements of his early work. This example depicts a thirteen-year-old midshipman (apprentice officer) in the British Royal Navy who would eventually rise to the rank of rear admiral. Copley captured the boy's flowing locks and starched linens with bold brushwork that reveals his careful study of seventeenth-century portraits--particularly those by Anthony van Dyck, another immigrant artist who made his name in England.