Artist John Singleton Copley, Son of Irish Immigrants, was born in Boston

America's first great portrait artist, John Singleton Copley (1737-1815), the son of Irish immigrants who emigrated to Boston in the 1730s.

In 2002, the city of Boston unveiled a statue to John Singleton Copley by artist Lewis Cohen, and it is now on the Boston Irish Heritage Trail.

John's parents, Richard Copley and Mary Singleton from County Clare, were married in Limerick before emigrating. His father died in the West Indies just after their son was born, leaving his mother to raise John by working at a shop in Boston that sold tobacco down by the docks.

In 1747 she married Peter Pelham, a colonial artist and a member of the Charitable Irish Society in 1737. Pelham helped to nurture his stepson's talent, and by age twenty Copley had already gained a reputation as a promising artist. His first painting, "A Boy and the Flying Squirrel," was sent to the Royal Academy in London and his reputation began to take shape.

Copley is considered America's first great portrait artist, having painted George Washington, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere and other leading citizens. Other acclaimed works by Copley include A Boy Rescued from a Shark in the Harbor of Havana, and The Red Cross Knight, from Spencer's poem The Fairy Queen.

Boston's Museum of Fine Arts has over 50 Copley paintings, including the famous Paul Revere portrait. The Massachusetts Historical Society on Boylston Street has the portraits of John Hancock, Mary Otis Gray and several other prominent 18th century Americans.

Copley Square Park in Boston's Back Bay was named in his honor in 1883. Copley always wanted to return to Boston, but never did. He died in London in 1815.

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