Re-discovered Copley in Edinburgh
November 21 2016
Picture: Lyon & Turnbull
Lyon & Turnbull here in Edinburgh is my 'local' auction house. It's premises are a rather glorious 18th Century chapel. This week they'll be auctioning a previously unknown portrait thought to be by John Singleton Copley, the American artist who came to practice in England in 1774. Long called 'Copley', it appears to have escaped the attention of the Copley literature until now, and is therefore catalogued rather cautiously as 'attributed to Copley'. I saw the picture last week, and though I'm no Copley expert I think it is most likely by him. There's a related picture in the US (the sitter served in Fraser's Highlanders during the American Revolution) which was also called Copley. The estimate is rather enticing, at £20k-£30k. More here.
Update - it fetched only £23k. Some doubts about that 'attributed to'?
