📖 A Revolution in Colour: The World of John Singleton Copley by Jane Kamensky

Jane Kamensky’s A Revolution in Color is more than a biography of John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). It’s a portrait of an artist caught between two worlds: colonial Boston and imperial London, revolution and loyalty, commerce and art. Kamensky shows how Copley’s brush captured the anxieties of empire and the ambitions of a rising American elite.

Chapter 1: Origins in Boston

• Born in Boston to Irish immigrants, Copley grew up in a city defined by trade, religion, and political ferment.
• His stepfather, Peter Pelham, an engraver, introduced him to artistic techniques, while his mother ran a tobacco shop to support the family.
• Copley’s early portraits reveal a precocious talent: sharp realism, attention to material detail, and a fascination with the textures of colonial life.
• Boston’s mercantile elite quickly recognized his skill, commissioning portraits that doubled as status symbols.

Chapter 2: Painting Boston’s Elite

• Copley’s sitters included artisans like Paul Revere, merchants like John Hancock, and clergy who shaped Boston’s intellectual life.
• His portraits were not mere likenesses; they were visual arguments about identity. Revere is shown with tools of his trade, Hancock with symbols of wealth.
• Kamensky emphasizes how Copley’s art reflected Boston’s tensions: a society both provincial and cosmopolitan, both Puritan and commercial.
• Yet Copley himself remained politically neutral, painting revolutionaries without embracing their cause.

Chapter 3: Family, Commerce, and Politics

• Marriage to Susanna Clarke tied Copley to one of Boston’s wealthiest families, whose fortune was built on tea imports.
• The Clarke family became targets during the Tea Act protests, placing Copley in a precarious position.
• His art became entangled with politics: portraits of Loyalists and Patriots alike carried implicit statements about allegiance.
• Kamensky shows how Copley’s domestic life mirrored Boston’s divisions - prosperity shadowed by unrest.

Chapter 4: Leaving America

• By 1774, Boston was on the brink of revolution. The Tea Party and escalating violence made life untenable for Loyalist‑connected families.
• Copley chose exile over uncertainty, sailing to London to pursue artistic recognition.
• His departure was both personal and symbolic: an artist fleeing revolution, choosing empire over rebellion.
• Kamensky frames this as a turning point - Copley’s art would now be shaped by European institutions rather than colonial patrons.

Chapter 5: London and the Royal Academy

• London offered opportunity but also competition. Copley joined the Royal Academy, where history painting was prized above portraiture.
• He shifted from intimate likenesses to grand canvases depicting imperial battles and biblical scenes.
• Works like The Death of Major Peirson dramatized British heroism, aligning Copley with imperial narratives.
• Yet his colonial background marked him as an outsider, forcing him to constantly prove himself in London’s artistic hierarchy.

Chapter 6: Transatlantic Identity

• Copley’s career embodied the contradictions of transatlantic identity. He painted revolutionaries but lived among Loyalists.
• His art reflected both admiration for American sitters and loyalty to British patrons.
• Kamensky highlights how Copley’s canvases became sites of negotiation: between empire and colony, tradition and innovation, belonging and exile.
• He never returned to America, yet his portraits remain central to American cultural memory.

Chapter 7: Legacy and Later Years

• In later years, Copley turned to religious and historical subjects, though his reputation waned compared to contemporaries like Joshua Reynolds.
• Financial struggles and family tensions marked his final decades.
• He died in 1815, largely forgotten in London, but his American portraits endured as icons of Revolutionary identity.
• Kamensky closes by situating Copley as both insider and outsider - a man whose art captured the ambiguities of revolution and empire.

Themes and Insights

• Neutrality and Ambition: Copley’s refusal to take sides politically reflects the precariousness of colonial artists.
• Art as History: His portraits serve as historical documents, revealing how individuals wanted to be remembered.
• Transatlantic Tensions: Copley’s life illustrates the cultural and political entanglements of the Atlantic world.
• Commerce and Culture: His career shows how art was inseparable from trade, family alliances, and political upheaval.