A Revolution in Color The World of John Singleton Copley [Hardcover]

Far from a born partisan, Copley could have gone either way. Kamenskys great accomplishment is to leave readers pulled by different audiences, demands, and political allegiances right along with him.A memorable journey into the transatlantic world in the age of revolution through a close study of the greatest colonial American artist. Kamensky, a historian with an art historians sensibility, provides a brilliant survey of John Singleton Copleys life, work, and subjects, vivified by a detailed examination of letters, diaries, and official records, many previously untapped, to involve the reader in the emotional and sensory experience of living in those tumultuous times.Vivid, intimate, and richly detailed, Jane Kamenskys biography of John Singleton Copley illuminates the deeply intertwined worlds of America and England at the moment of their violent divorce. The career of the great painter from Boston provides a wonderfully fresh and surprising perspective on the American Revolution, on the scope of artistic ambition, and on the high costs of divided loyalty.Jane Kamensky has not only crafted a stunning biography but also a truly singular account of the American Revolution.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.A pleasure to read from first page to last, Jane Kamenskys exploration of the life, work and tumultuous times of John Singleton Copley is itself a masterpiece. Like all excellent portraitists, Kamensky probes deeply into the character of her subject, as deft with the small, revealing detail as she is with the sweeping strokes of landscape and setting. Both gripping narrative history and insightl5