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Study for the 'Death of Major Peirson' (Tate Gallery)

Maker

(artist)
1738-1815

Title

Study for the 'Death of Major Peirson' (Tate Gallery)

Date of Production

1782 - 1784

Medium

black and white chalk, squared in red chalk, on blue laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 48.1 cm
Width: 60.9 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.295

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords



dress uniforms

Related Works

Study for the 'Death of Major Peirson' (Tate Gallery) Study for the 'Death of Major Peirson' (Tate Gallery) Study for the 'Death of Major Peirson' (Tate Gallery) Study for the 'Death of Major Peirson' (Tate Gallery) (recto) Study for the 'Death of Major Peirson' (Tate Gallery)

Provenance

possibly by descent to his son, also John Singleton Copley, Lord Lyndhurst (1772-1863); possibly his estate sale, Christie's (London), 5 March 1864, lot 71 [purchased by Cox(?) - a dealer?]; D. Farr, Philadelphia; purchased from him by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, October 1923 (£12.50, also bought 5 other Copley drawings for a total of £64); Witt Bequest 1952 Lyndhurst had a sale at Christie's on 26-27 February 1864, where only 1 drawing is described as a study for the Death of Major Peirson, lot 666, which has been identified as D.1952.RW.553. In Lyndhurst's 5 March 1864 sale, only 1 drawing is described as a sketch for this subject, lot 71. The name of the purchaser of that lot appears to be 'Cox', likely a dealer, as the same name appears further down in the catalogue, next to lot 84, Copley's painting of 'Saul reproved by Samuel'. This painting is now in the MFA, Boston, and according to them, the purchaser at the sale was Martha Babcock Amory (1812-1880), Boston, grandddaughter of the artist, so Cox must have been a dealer acting on her behalf.

Exhibition History

Death of Major Pierson, Jersey Museum and Art Gallery, St Helier, Jersey, 18/04/2012-21/10/2012

unnumbered typescript - title was possibly 'A Selection of Drawings from The Witt/Courtauld Collections [as exhibited in 1964 at University of Sussex, Falmer]', Nottingham University, 1966

John Singleton Copley: American portraits in oil, pastel and miniature. With biographical sketches., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 01/02/1938-15/03/1938

Literature

Downie, Louise and Doug Ford, 1781: the battle of Jersey and the Death of Major Peirson, St Helier 2012
Illus. p. 46

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 13

Inscriptions

Watermark: none.

Inscription: none.

Collector's mark: Verso: lower right corner, stamped in black: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

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