4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2010.

Miles Sherbrook

Artist John Singleton Copley (American, 1738 - 1815)

CultureAmerican

Date1771

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions49 1/2 x 39 in. (125.7 x 99.1 cm)
Overall, Frame: 56 x 46 in. (142.2 x 116.8 cm)

InscribedDated on the letter the sitter holds: 1771

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., in memory of his grandparents Anna-Maria Breymann and Henry Chrysler

Object number80.219

Collections

American Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 209

DescriptionAn oil on canvas portrait of Miles Sherbrook, a merchant who sympathized with the British side during the American War of Independence. He is shown in the Chrysler painting seated and holding a letter; portrayed without a wig and dressed simply, Sherbrook appears unpretentious and forthright. Sherbrook sits in a New York rococo side chair and works at a covered card table.

Label TextJohn Singleton Copley American, 1738–1815 Miles Sherbrook, 1771 Oil on canvas No great American art museum collection would be complete without a key work by the renowned early Boston portraitist, John Singleton Copley. Walter Chrysler acquired Miles Sherbrook in 1979 and gave it to the Museum in honor of his grandparents. Here, Copley painted merchant Miles Sherbrook with a letter and quill in hand, attributes of a diligent and earnest man of commerce. By presenting the wealthy New Yorker without a wig and by including the scars on his cheeks, this intimate portrait communicates the sitter’s character and values rather than his social status. Both Sherbrook and Copley feared the financial consequences of the American Revolution. While the businessman lost his fortune during the war, America’s leading portrait painter relocated to London, ensuring a steady supply of patrons. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., in memory of his grandparents Anna-Maria Breymann and Henry Chrysler 80.219ProvenanceEngland, after the American Revolution or around 1815; Herrick family, Beaumanor Park, Leicestershire, England, 1977; Hirschl and Adler Galleries, New York, 1979; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum in memory of his grandparents, Anna-Maria Breymann and Henry Chrysler, 1980. Exhibition History"Recent Acquisitions of American Art, 1769-1938," Hirschl and Adler Galleries, New York, March 3 - 31, 1979. (Exh. cat. no. 4) "John Singleton Copley in America," Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass., June 7 - Aug. 27, 1995; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, N.Y., September 26, 1995 - January 7, 1996; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Tex., February 4 - April 28, 1996; Milwaukee Art Museum, Wis., May 22 - August 25, 1996. (Exh. cat. no. 72) "America's First Old Master: Portraits by John Singleton Copley, from The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston," Chrysler Museum of Art, Small Changing Gallery, Norfolk, Va., May 18 - August 15, 2004. "Reopening of the Joan P. Brock Galleries," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., Opening in March of 2008. "American Treasures at the Willoughby-Baylor House," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, January 2 - December 1, 2013. “Once Upon a Time in America: Three Centuries of US-American Art,” Wallraf-Richartz Museum and Foundation, Cologne, Germany, November 23, 2018 – March 24, 2019.Published References_Letters and Papers of John Singleton Copley and Henry Pelham, 1739-1776_ (1914; reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, 1970), 112-115, 127-128. Frank W. Bayley, _The Life and Works of John Singleton Copley_ (Boston: The Taylor Press, 1915), 21-22. Barbara Neville Parker and Anne Bolling Wheeler, _John Singleton Copley: American Portraits in Oil, Pastel, and Miniature_ (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1938), 267. Jules David Prown, _John Singleton Copley_ (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1966), 1: 229. _Recent Acquisitions of American Art, 1769-1938_, exh. cat., Hirschl and Adler Galleries, New York, 1979, no. 4. Thomas W. Styron, "New Acquisitions Featured," _Chrysler Museum Bulletin_ 10 (Dec. 1980): 2. Thomas W. Styron, "Copley Gifts," _Chrysler Museum Bulletin_ 11 (Jan. 1981): 4. Jim Spencer, "Long Lost Portrait at Home in Norfolk," _Virginian-Pilot_, March 28, 1981. "La Chronique des Arts: Principales Acquisitions des Musées en 1981," _Gazette des Beaux Arts_ 99 (Mar. 1982): 50. _The Chrysler Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Norfolk, Virginia_, (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1982), 76-77. ISBN: 0940744376 Jules David Prown, "John Singleton Copley in New York," _The Walpole Society Notebook_ (1986): 31. Jefferson C. Harrison, _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_ (Norfolk, 1991), 78-79, no. 59. ISBN: 0940744597, 0940744627 Carrie Rebora and Paul Staiti, et al., _John Singleton Copley in America_ (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995), 55, 303-305. ISBN: 0870997440, 0870997459, 0810964929 Jules David Prown, _Art as Evidence: Writings on Art and Material Culture_ (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), 26, 29. ISBN: 0300084315 Luke Beckerdite, ed., _American Furniture_ (Hanover, Conn.: Chipstone Foundation, 2004), 178-179, fig. 36. ISBN: 0-9724353-4-4 Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 20-21, no. 1. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6 Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 59, fig. 58. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1 Barbara Schaefer and Anita Hachmann, editors. _Es War Einmal in Amerika: 300 Jahre US-Amerikanische Kunst_. (Köln: Wienand Verlag, 2018) no. 15, pg. 298.