A Revolution in Color: The World of John Singleton Copley - Rilegato

Kamensky, Jane

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0393240010 ISBN 13: 9780393240016

Casa editrice: W W Norton & Co Inc, 2016

Riassunto

Boston in the 1740s: a bustling port at the edge of the British empire. A boy comes of age in a small wooden house along the Long Wharf, which juts into the harbor, as though reaching for London thousands of miles across the ocean. Sometime in his childhood, he learns to draw.That boy was John Singleton Copley, who became, by the 1760s, colonial America’s premier painter. His brush captured the faces of his neighbors—ordinary men like Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams—who would become the revolutionary heroes of a new United States. Today, in museums across America, Copley’s brilliant portraits evoke patriotic fervor and rebellious optimism.The artist, however, did not share his subjects’ politics. Copley’s nation was Britain; his capital, London. When rebellion sundered Britain’s empire, both kin and calling determined the painter’s allegiances. He sought the largest canvas for his talents and the safest home for his family. So, by the time the United States declared its independence, Copley and his kin were in London. He painted America’s revolution from a far shore, as Britain’s American War.An intimate portrait of the artist and his extraordinary times, Jane Kamensky’s A Revolution in Color masterfully reveals the world of the American Revolution, a place in time riven by divided loyalties and tangled sympathies. Much like the world in which he lived, Copley’s life and career were marked by spectacular rises and devastating falls. But though his ambivalence cost him dearly, the painter’s achievements in both Britain and America made him a towering figure of both nations’ artistic legacies.

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Recensione

"...I commend Kamensky's skill as a writer. Even if you had little interest in such a man as Copley, this is a deeply enjoyable book. --David Aaronovitch, The Times

"Jane Kamensky has not only crafted a stunning biography but also a truly singular account of The American Revolution. A Revolution in Color masterfully unravels any easy distinctions between patriots and loyalists." --Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana, Duches of Devonshire and A World on Fire

The greatest American artist of the eighteenth century, John Singleton Copley, preferred life in Britain, escaping from the bitter civil war that we call the American Revolution. In this brilliantly insightful and lucidly written biography, Jane Kamensky reveals the age of revolution in fresh new tones as complex and compelling as the interplay of light and shade in the finest Copley painting. --Alan Taylor, author of American Revolutions

L'autore

Jane Kamensky is a professor of history at Harvard University and faculty director of the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute. Her many books include The Exchange Artist, a finalist for the George Washington Book Prize.

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Data di pubblicazione: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0393240010
• ISBN 13: 9780393240016
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Lingua: Inglese
• Numero di pagine: 526