| Maker(s): | Copley, John Singleton | | Culture: | American (1737 - 1815)
| | Title: | The Honorable John Erving (1693-1786)
| | Date Made: | ca. 1772
| | Type: | Painting
| | Materials: | oil on canvas
| | Place Made: | United States
| | Measurements: | stretcher: 50 1/2 x 40 1/2 in.; 128.27 x 102.87 cm
| | Narrative Inscription: | inscribed on letter on table: To Honorable John Erving / in / Boston; top left of strecher bar: H F 631" "Box #I/top; label on upper right: Copley/TR 929, 31A; label on upper left: Alice Erving/650 San y Sidro Road/Santa Barbara, California; frame: Santa..../Number 32/EXHIBIT Painting Today and Yesterday/Artist John Singleton Copley/Title Portrait of Hon. John Erv...../Price/Return Address Mrs John Langdon/ Insurance, VAM # 264 Excellence/J.Copley: The Honorable John Erving/[Mrs. A. Erving, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Museum of Art/lender:Miss Alice Erving/ Title:The Honorable John Erving/Artist: John Copley, ....Barbara Museum of Art/ State and Anapamu Sts./ Santa Barbara California/.....St......John Singleton Copley/Medium oil/ Title The Hon. John Erving/Loan Mrs. J.L. Erving/date acquired 4-18-46
| | Accession Number: | SC 1975.52.1
| | Credit Line: | Bequest of Alice Rutherford Erving, class of 1929
| | Museum Collection: | Smith College Museum of Art
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Description:
three quarter length portrait of an older man in long white wig, coat, vest, breeches and white stockings, seated legs crossed, hands together on proper left thigh, a small stand to his proper right holding paper, three ink wells and feather pen, curtain behind to his proper right; man; costume/uniform; portrait; furniture
Label Text:
John Erving was born in Scotland and shipped to Boston as a common sailor at the age of only eleven or twelve. He settled there and eventually became one of the city’s wealthiest merchants. Copley, the portraitist most favored by Boston’s colonial elite, presents Erving in a casually confident pose.
The clothing Erving wears is moderate and conservative. The material is a practical wool with simple, cloth-covered buttons and no gilt trim. His full, frizzy wig was old-fashioned by this time, and a dusting of wig powder on his right shoulder adds to the sense of ease and informality. The slightly oversized head and hands convey that he is a man of thought and action, but they are also an indication of Copley’s lack of access to formal training in the American colonies.
Subjects:
Canvas Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1975.52.1 |
