Boy with Squirrel (Henry Pelham)
John Singleton Copley
1765
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
American portrait artist John Singleton Copley showcased this piece at the exhibition of the Incorporated Society of Artists in 1766, making it the first American painting to be shown abroad. Born in Boston, Copley’s mother remarried Peter Pelham after Copley’s father died, which proved beneficial to the artist in that Pelham was both an engraver and friends with many local painters. The subject in the above painting is of Copley’s half-brother, Henry Pelham.
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