Description
Joseph Sherburne sits facing the viewer in John Singleton Copley’s portrait, his red waistcoat showing beneath a lustrous dark robe. White cuffs draw attention to the hands, including the wrist resting on the chair back at the right. A blue curtain deepens the opposite side, making the sitter’s face and richly described clothing stand out within a deliberately balanced arrangement.
Painted around 1767–70 in oil on canvas, the work gives portraiture both descriptive precision and a composed character. Copley treats the sitter as the center of an image whose details belong to the whole arrangement rather than stand separately. Its interest lies in that balance. A portrait can preserve a person’s recognizable appearance while also presenting a particular manner of being seen, making observation and pictorial judgment inseparable parts of the encounter.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the John Singleton Copley collection.
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