Volume 21, number 2: Copley's Cargo Roberts Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:33:05 -0500 In 1765, John Singleton Copley sent his painting Henry Pelham (Boy with a Squirrel) from Boston to London in hopes of receiving feedback from the arbiters of academic aesthetics. Several months later, he received the welcome news that Sir Joshua Reynolds had called the painting "wonderfull." In virtually every scholarly narrative of early American art, Boy with a Squirrel derives its canonical significance from this famous transatlantic relay. But the most basic reality of that relay–the massive fact of the Atlantic Ocean standing between Copley and his interlocutors–has barely been registered in the scholarship.This essay interprets Boy with a Squirrel in terms of the difficulty and delicacy of its transatlantic transmission. I argue that Copley, as he attempted to create a painting that would have the necessary transitive qualities, drew from an array of familiar discourses of Atlantic exchange and transport. The painting's profile format evoked strategies of numismatic exchange. The precise representation of the flying squirrel tapped into well-established transatlantic natural history circuits. The spatial transformations of the composition echoed not only empiricist theories of sensory conveyance (especially the writings of George Berkeley), but also mirrored the workaday dynamics of the shipping and reassembly of transatlantic commodities. Copley, like many other colonial artists, worked in a global community governed by distance, difference, and delay. By attending to the vehicular context of Boy with a Squirrel, we can begin to understand his strategies for articulating–and navigating–that new global space.
Art History Resources on the Web - In-depth hyperlinked lists divided by period and maintained by Chris Witcombe, Professor of Art History at Sweet Briar College, Virginia.
Art History Resources - Web sites and publications in print that are concerned with various aspects of art history, collected by the Arizona State University libraries.
Art Millenium - This art encyclopedia contains pictures and biographies many artists, style descriptions, and explorations.
Meta Description: [ The largest art encyclopedia on the internet. It contains more than 15,000 pictures and overviews of more than 1000 artists, collections, explorations, artistic styles and more ]
Artcyclopedia - Guide to museum-quality art on the Internet. Search hundreds of art museum sites for exhibits and artists.
Meta Description: [ The Artcyclopedia is an index of online museums and image archives: find out where the works of over 8,000 different fine artists can be viewed online. ]
ArtHistory Network - Art history, archaeology and architecture resources on the web.
500Artsiteguide.com - Art and art history directory, includes a search function.
Contemporary Art Directory - Lists web sites and print publications concerned with contemporary art and art history, maintained by Co Seegers.
Meta Description: [ 20th Century Avant-Garde ]
404Dictionary of Art Historians - Online biographical dictionary of major art historians in the world. Includes bibliography on works by the historian as well as works about his/her life.
Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture - Collects electronic resources for study and research, with a focus on Early America.
Meta Description: [ The Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture is an
aggreagator site which compiles resources for study and research. It
was created at the University of Wisconsin, Madison Memorial Library
with the Support of the Chipstone Foundation. ]
Fine Art History Quick Reference - Provides information on painters and art movements, browse by artist, style, or country.
Meta Description: [ training marketing spell teaching course learning home finance trainer egyptian ]
History Link 10: Art History - Lessons and links organized by culture.
Meta Description: [ Links to pages which list Historical Art Sites categorized by culture. ]
LLEK Bookmarks: Art and Art History - Scientific resources and media worldwide but especially in German and English: Journals, search engines, and additional starting points and sites of special interest.
Meta Description: [ art history related scientific search engines, journals and links ]
Olivia's Artscapade - Educational links to information on topics related to the history of art and music.
Meta Description: [ expage homes for sale apartments dating services chat rooms airline ]
Robert A. Baron - Essays and publications in intellectual property with respect to art history, museology, image resources and computerization. Papers on Mona Lisa and Monalisiana.
Meta Description: [ Papers on Copyright and Intellectual Property, Art History, Museum and Arts Computerization. Vendor of slides and images for Art Historians. ]
The Art History Research Centre - Tool to facilitate art historical research as well as other arts research on the internet.
Meta Description: [ The Art History Research Centre is the foremost tool to facilitate art historical research as well as other arts research on the internet. ]
