#Squirrel drawing professional

On first viewing the work, West was said to have exclaimed, 'What delicious coloring! worthy of Titian himself!' Though the painting's attribution was lost by the time it arrived at Reynolds's studio, West deduced that the painter was American because the canvas was stretched over American pine. The American-born painter Benjamin West was in London at the time and examined the painting prior to its exhibition.

Bruce in turn gave the work to a Lord Cardross who took it to the studio of Britain's leading painter Sir Joshua Reynolds. Bruce, a friend of Copley's who was living in London. Hale then delivered the painting to Captain R. The painting crossed the Atlantic as part of a Mr.

#Squirrel drawing professional

Thus, he assembled a professional team to facilitate the safe transport of his painting to London. In his letters concerning A Boy with a Flying Squirrel, Copley worried about a 'changing of the colours' while the painting was at sea. Copley was aware of the risks of sea passage to artwork he had previously lost pastels in a shipwreck in the spring of 1765. History Transatlantic crossing Ī Boy with a Flying Squirrel was completed while Copley was still based in Boston, but it needed to be shipped across the Atlantic Ocean for a spring 1766 exhibition in London at the Society of Artists of Great Britain. The squirrel is shown cracking a nut, which in colonial American art, is a symbol for patience and perseverance. Special attention was given to the squirrel, as seen in the meticulous portrayal of its eyes and gliding membrane. Copley rendered a variety of colors and textures, including the red drapery in the background, the highly polished mahogany table, the boy's skin, the squirrel's fur, and the reflections in the glass of water. Pelham wears a dark blue coat with a red collar, a yellow waistcoat, and a white collar while his right hand holds onto a gold chain attached to his pet flying squirrel. The painting is a profile portrait of Henry Pelham seated at a table, and the work's title has been referred to as A Boy with a Flying Squirrel (Henry Pelham), Henry Pelham (Boy with a Squirrel), and The Boy and the Squirrel. Copley and Pelham held a close and affectionate relationship, as evidenced by a volume of correspondence between the two published in 1914. Under Copley's tutelage, Pelham became a painter and engraver, as well as Copley's official business manager and assistant.

Pelham was born in 1749, the son of Copley's widowed mother, who married Peter Pelham in 1748. Ī Boy with a Flying Squirrel 's subject, Henry Pelham, was Copley's half-brother. According to the American critic Henry Theodore Tuckerman, Copley reportedly was 'intimately acquainted' with the flying squirrel's natural history and had several pet flying squirrels of his own. Copley's 1771 portrait of Daniel Crommelin Verplanck also featured a squirrel. Theodore Atkinson and Boy with a Squirrel, John Bee Holmes. Besides A Boy with a Flying Squirrel, Copley produced two other squirrel paintings in 1765: Mrs. In these works, the successful domestication of a squirrel indicated the owner's refinement and education, as the training process was meant to 'civilize' both the squirrel and the owner. Ĭhained squirrels held by women and children were common in colonial American portraits. To test whether his art met English standards, Copley completed A Boy with a Flying Squirrel by early fall 1765, which was to be viewed by a London audience. He was at the time primarily a portraitist, but he desired to become a European-style history painter. Though he was familiar with European art, Copley had not yet ventured outside New England and was largely self-taught. As of 2021, it is held by the former.ĭaniel Crommelin Verplanck by John Singleton Copley, 1771īy 1765, John Singleton Copley established himself as the foremost portrait painter of Boston's mercantile elite. The work was featured in exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the National Gallery of Art. Later historians and critics assessed the painting as a pivotal work in both Copley's career and the history of American art. There, it was met with overall praise from artists like Joshua Reynolds, who nonetheless criticized Copley's minuteness. Painted while Copley was a Boston-based portraitist aspiring to be recognized by his European contemporaries, the work was brought to London for a 1766 exhibition. It depicts Copley's half-brother Henry Pelham with a pet flying squirrel, a creature commonly found in colonial American portraits as a symbol of the sitter's refinement. A Boy with a Flying Squirrel (Henry Pelham)ħ7.15 cm × 63.82 cm (30.375 in × 25.125 in) Ī Boy with a Flying Squirrel (Henry Pelham), or Henry Pelham (Boy with a Squirrel), is a 1765 painting by the American-born painter John Singleton Copley.