John Singleton Copley (1737-1815)

SOLD

Portrait of Henry Belasyse
2nd Earl Fauconberg (1743-1802)
Oil on canvas
37″ x 31 3/4″ framed
Ex. Collection:
The artist; by descent in his family to his great granddaughter, Susan Greene Dexter; donated to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston by Susan Greene Dexter in memory of Charles and Martha Babcock Amory in 1925; deaccessioned by the Museum of Fine Arts; Christie’s, London, June 11, 2004; to private collection.
Exhibited: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1934-5.
Related Engraving:  Henry Belasyse, 2nd Earl of Fauconberg
By and published by Anthony Fogg, after John Singleton Copley
Stipple engraving, published June 4, 1794
13 7/8 x 10 5/8 inches
Literature: J. D. Prown, John Singleton Copley in England, 1774-1815.
Cambridge, MA., 1966, p. 343 and figure 591.
John Singleton Copley painted his friend and neighbor, Henry Belsayse, in the early 1790’s, when both lived on George Street, close to Leicester Square in London. Copley portrayed his friend in his brilliant red Lieutenant’s uniform with silver epaulets of the North Riding Militia of Yorkshire in front of the wild and craggy landscape of North England.
Belasyse was a military man who even had a regiment called Fauconberg’s named after him. His other accomplishments and titles included 2nd Earl of Fauconberg of Newborough, York as well as Member of Parliament for Peterborough from 1768-1774 and Lord of the Bedchamber from 1777-1802.