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Local writer not convinced London gallery is really getting the work of a local artist

By adamg on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 9:38am

J.L. Bell makes the case that the painting the Tate Gallery acquired last year is not really by John Singleton Copley:

I can imagine Copley being influenced by the recent “conversation pieces” by Zoffany and others. He might have studied examples, even sketching figures from them in his style. And then he tried out the form with his own family as models, creating the biggest group portrait he’d made to date. But I’m not convinced he took an one-off side journey into the style of a second-rate provincial portraitist.

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Comments

By Allstonian on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 11:41am.

Wow - I am 100% with Bell on this. Looks like the Tate has been seriously bamboozled.

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By whyaduck on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 12:20pm.

but unless J.J. is also an art expert and/or an expert on Copley, I will wait for a reply from the Tate (although I do concur that the portrait is not done in the style of Copley).

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By SalSal on Fri, 05/12/2017 - 3:52pm.

This painting isn't just not in the style of Copley, it's awful. They figures are not anatomically accurate and the children's faces are just plain weird. Maybe the experts at the Tate were convinced by the sketches, but the quality of the sketch of the boy is so much better than the quality of the painting. The sketch is life-like, the boy in the picture looks like a badly-made doll.

I wonder if they are not just trying to curry favor with the donor.

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By APB on Sat, 05/13/2017 - 9:58am.

Totally agree with Mr. Bell. The drawings are fine but the painting is terrible and looks nothing like a Copley, including his early work. The children's proportions make them look like dwarves, and there's just nothing about it, from the composition to the execution that is reminiscent of Copley. Look at "Boy with a Flying Squirrel" from 1765, and look at this and you'll see two different artists' work.

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