Brook Watson being attacked by a shark in Havana harbour, 1749. Oil painting after J.S. Copley.

  • Copley, John Singleton, 1738-1815.
Reference:
47383i
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view Brook Watson being attacked by a shark in Havana harbour, 1749. Oil painting after J.S. Copley.

Contains: 1 image

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Credit

Brook Watson being attacked by a shark in Havana harbour, 1749. Oil painting after J.S. Copley. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

About this work

Description

Watson had his left leg bitten off by a shark while bathing in Havana harbour. Copley's colossal painting of the subject was exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, in 1778

Physical description

1 painting : oil on metal ; metal, regular oval 57.8 x 73.5 cm

Notes

Copies of well-known paintings in regular oval format were often made for use as trays. A metal oval tray painted with the same subject and composition as the present painting, and the same size, was offered for sale at Christie's, South Kensington, 18 May 2010, lot 3 ("A George III decorated tôle tray, early 19th century, the oval ground depicting 'Watson and the shark' after John Singleton Copley, 30 in (76.2 cm. wide)". A regular oval copy on metal of almost the same size, after a painting by Mather Brown, was offered for sale at Christie's South Kensington on 15 October 2009, lot 65 (painting of The departure of the sons of Tippoo Sultan from the Zenana, oil on metal 56.5 x 71.7 cm., framed), and another of the Death of General Wolfe after Benjamin West, oil on metal 54.5 x 71 cm, was offered for sale at Sotheby's, London, on 30 May 1997, lot 372

References note

Christopher Wright et al., British and Irish paintings in public collections, New Haven and London: Yale University Press for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2006, pp. 268-269

Reference

Wellcome Collection 47383i

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