The Death of Major Peirson

John Singleton Copley is an American painter that became famous because of his portrait paintings of important figures in colonial New England, depicting in particular middle-class men and women.

He was the son of the Irish immigrant Richard Copley. When he was eleven, his father died and his mother married to Peter Pelham, who taught John the rudiments of painting. In 1774, he painted A Boy with a Squirrel, which was a portrait of his step brother Henry Pelham. With this artwork, he was very successful in the Royal Academy exhibition and at the request of his followers, he moved to England, where he settled down permanently.

In 1774, Copley immigrated to England to paint there. Later, he would visit Paris, Geneva and Rome. He was elected an associated member of the Royal Academy in 1776, and his election to full membership took place in 1779. He exhibited in several occasions a collection of forty-three works. His works were above all portraits and historical paintings. His most outstanding artworks are: The Death of the Earl of Chatham, The Death of Major Peirson at St. Helier, The Siege of Gibraltar (1782), some canvases which are preserved in The National Gallery in London and Portrait of the Copley Family, in The National Gallery of Art (USA).

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