John Singleton Copley

I think that his great achievement was the development of Contemporary Narrative Portraiture,

that special combination of 

Reportage

Idealism and 

Theatre.

This is my kind of painting and Copley is my kind of painter.

I use so many examples of this artist's works that I feel obligated to include a little blurb about him by way of introduction if you don't know his works.

John Singleton Copley (1738 - 1815) was an American painter, born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the son of Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Irish. 

He is famous for his portrait paintings of important figures in colonial New England, depicting in particular, middle-class subjects. 

Paul Revere

by John Singleton Copley

His paintings were innovative in their tendency to depict artifacts relating to these individuals' lives. Copley was the greatest and most influential painter in colonial America, producing about 350 works of art. 

With his startling likenesses of persons and things, he came to define a realist art tradition in America. His paintings take my breath away.

This is my favorite book of his works. I wore out my first copy and have ordered my second one from Amazon.