John Singleton Copley's Paul Revere

Paul Revere, by John Singleton Copley, is an oil on canvas of Paul Revere sitting for a portrait painting during the Colonial period. Paul Revere is sitting in a dark room at a craftsman’s table. He is wearing a dark probably leather vest with a ruffled white shirt underneath. Upon closer inspection, he is holding a teapot which appears to be one that he made. The teapot is silver with a black handle with what look like the reflection of a window on the face of the silver teapot. Next to his right elbow is a set of etching tools. The etching tools were used to engrave words or symbols into the silver items that Paul Revere created. The lines in Paul Revere, are implied and simple. The lines of the table are horizontal while the lines on Paul

This showed Paul Revere’s patriotic side which people did not know due to this portrait being painted before his participation in the British attack on Massachusetts. Even though the meaning of the painting is unknown, we know that John Copley had a love for Paul Revere’s silver items he made. Upon this assumption, most scholars assume that John Copley painted this in order to spread beauty of Paul Revere’s silver pots and utensils. There is not much known about the commission of John Copley’s Paul Revere. John Copley loved to paint what he considered ‘more “usefull trade” like carpentry, shoemaking, and tailoring’ (Lasser). He viewed these as beautiful since the objects that the different craftsmen made were used in everyday life. Although many people viewed carpentry, shoemaking, and tailoring as lowly work, Copley believed it was a beautiful form of art. This view on what was art and what was not brought on a new era of artist like Paul Revere who also saw the beauty in the things which he created. In conclusion, Copley painted this portrait to show his support for the things Paul Revere created as well as support Paul Revere’s