log in
Enter site
Login to use Arthive functionality to the maximum
Portrait Of John Hancock
John Singleton Copley • Painting, 1765, 124.8×100 cm
Description of the artwork «Portrait Of John Hancock»
The outstanding American portrait painter of the eighteenth century John singleton Copley, created numerous portraits of Boston Nouveau riche who emerged from the urban poor, but managed to make out of thin air a Grand state. "Portrait Of John Hancock" in this gallery – one of the brightest.
John Hancock (1737-1793) was the son of unremarkable Massachusetskogo priest. But uncle John owned in Boston, the largest transatlantic firm for the delivery of goods. John was seven years old when after his father's death he was adopted by a rich uncle, who gave him a start in life, education at Harvard College and the skills of a profitable Commerce. Twenty-five Hancock was already a full partner of his uncle in business, and a year after my uncle gave up the Ghost, became the sole owner of his Empire. The name Hancock was in Boston a synonym for abject luxury. Bright silk and velvet costumes of Hancock dazzled the eye. His lemon yellow crew was drifting on the streets of Boston, and the mansion was crammed with expensive furniture, fabrics, porcelain and collector's wines from the island of Madeira, which Hancock imported. In Boston his name was simple and austere: the "King Hancock".
In 1765, the year Hancock decided it was time to decorate the mansion, inherited from his uncle, his own portrait and was invited to work Copley. The interesting thing is that Copley unexpectedly wrote to Hancock in a manner almost ascetic. His dark blue coat stitched not silk and not velvet, and of simple woolen fabric, his wig is very modest, and sits "king Hancock" on a simple wooden chair. On the table is a Ledger and a small inkwell. Hancock is shown as if he is the accounting Department.
Why it took such a "game shy"? Then, financial well-being of Hancock pushed him to convert economic capital into a political one. He was going to go from business into politics, which formed the Republican ideals of the people and the honor was Calvinist virtue. Portrait of a millionaire who flaunted luxury and independently reduce the debit with the credit, was a perfect PR. John Hancock supported the American revolution, became the first Governor of Massachusetts and very famously left the biggest signature on the Declaration of independence of the United States.
Copley wrote two portraits of Hancock between 1770 and 1772 (first stored at the Historical society of Massachusetts, the second in a private collection), as well as the portrait of his wifepresented at the Museum of fine arts Boston.
Author: Oleg Vybivaet
John Hancock (1737-1793) was the son of unremarkable Massachusetskogo priest. But uncle John owned in Boston, the largest transatlantic firm for the delivery of goods. John was seven years old when after his father's death he was adopted by a rich uncle, who gave him a start in life, education at Harvard College and the skills of a profitable Commerce. Twenty-five Hancock was already a full partner of his uncle in business, and a year after my uncle gave up the Ghost, became the sole owner of his Empire. The name Hancock was in Boston a synonym for abject luxury. Bright silk and velvet costumes of Hancock dazzled the eye. His lemon yellow crew was drifting on the streets of Boston, and the mansion was crammed with expensive furniture, fabrics, porcelain and collector's wines from the island of Madeira, which Hancock imported. In Boston his name was simple and austere: the "King Hancock".
In 1765, the year Hancock decided it was time to decorate the mansion, inherited from his uncle, his own portrait and was invited to work Copley. The interesting thing is that Copley unexpectedly wrote to Hancock in a manner almost ascetic. His dark blue coat stitched not silk and not velvet, and of simple woolen fabric, his wig is very modest, and sits "king Hancock" on a simple wooden chair. On the table is a Ledger and a small inkwell. Hancock is shown as if he is the accounting Department.
Why it took such a "game shy"? Then, financial well-being of Hancock pushed him to convert economic capital into a political one. He was going to go from business into politics, which formed the Republican ideals of the people and the honor was Calvinist virtue. Portrait of a millionaire who flaunted luxury and independently reduce the debit with the credit, was a perfect PR. John Hancock supported the American revolution, became the first Governor of Massachusetts and very famously left the biggest signature on the Declaration of independence of the United States.
Copley wrote two portraits of Hancock between 1770 and 1772 (first stored at the Historical society of Massachusetts, the second in a private collection), as well as the portrait of his wifepresented at the Museum of fine arts Boston.
Author: Oleg Vybivaet
