Description
“A sensory tour de force.” ―Caitlin Fitz, The Atlantic
On this intimate portrait of the painter John Singleton Copley and his peculiar times, award-winning Harvard historian Jane Kamensky gives “a wonderfully fresh and surprising viewpoint at the American Revolution” (Stephen Greenblatt), a world riven by divided loyalties and tangled sympathies. Even though Copley’s prodigious talent earned him the patronage of Boston’s patriot leaders, including Samuel Adams and Paul Revere, he didn’t share their politics and lamented The usa’s provincialism. When painting portraits failed to fulfill his lofty ambitions and colonial resistance escalated, Copley looked longingly around the Atlantic, repatriating to London where he gained renown because the painter of Britain’s American War. With a “vibrant prose style, Kamensky probes deeply” (New York Times), bringing new insight to this tumultuous period as seen through a towering figure of both Britain’s and The usa’s artistic legacies. 8 pages of color; 50 illustrations