Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011019About the Artwork
John Singleton Copley left Boston at the start of the American Revolution in 1775 to pursue his career in England, where he achieved distinction both as a portraitist and a history painter. Following a method often employed in France, Copley generally drew on blue paper to serve as a middle tone, working up the image using black chalk to indicate outlines and shadows, and white chalk for highlights. He made this drawing as an early study for the figure of the prince of Orange in his last major history painting, Battle of the Pyrenees (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), in 1812–15. The figure is garbed in the uniform of a “hussar,” a light cavalry officer equipped with a saber, regiments of which played an important role in the Napoleonic Wars (1803–15). In the final composition, Copley used the pose not for Orange, but for the Duke of Wellington, changing the facial features and adjusting the position of the figure’s arms.
Inscriptions
verso, lower left, in black chalk: Prince of Wales
Provenance
1812-?: The artist [1738-1815], London, England. ?-1863: John Singleton Copley, Jr., 1st Baron Lyndhurst (the artist’s son) [1772-1863], London, England. 1864: (The Lyndhurst Library Sale, Christie’s, London, 2/26/1864-2/27/1864, lot 670, likely sold to Edward Basil Jupp.) 1864-?: Edward Basil Jupp [1812-1877], London. ?-probably 1950: Passed down through the Amory family: Martha Babcock Amory (granddaughter of the artist) [1812-1880], Boston, MA; Edward Linzee Amory (great-grandson of the artist) [1844-1911], Boston, MA; Mr. Wallace (valet to Edward Linzee Amory), Foxborough, MA. Sold to Charles D. Childs Gallery. 1950: (Charles D. Childs Gallery, Boston, MA, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art.) 1950-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH.
Exhibition history
Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959). Romantic Art in Britain: Paintings and Drawings 1760-1860. The Detroit Institute of Arts (organizer) (January 9-February 11, 1968); Philadelphia Museum of Art (March 14-April 21, 1968). National Schools of Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 14-September 18, 1983). America Draws. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1984-March 17, 1985). American Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 19-July 12, 1998). Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- John Singleton Copley (American, born The Thirteen Colonies, 1738–1815)
- Date
- 1812
- Medium
- black and white chalk
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 27.6 x 22.1 cm (10 7/8 x 8 11/16 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund
- Accession no.
- 1950.216
More by John Singleton Copley in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00011019
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