# Mrs. Jerathmael Bowers

**John Singleton Copley** (American, 1738–1815)  
ca. 1763  
Oil on canvas  
49 7/8 x 39 3/4 in. (126.7 x 101 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15.128. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/10530).

## About this work

Mrs. Jerathmael Bowers sits in a landscape in a gleaming satin gown, with a small dog in her lap. Copley, who never saw a major European painting until he left America in 1774, based the composition on a print after a portrait by Joshua Reynolds, adapting fashionable London imagery for his colonial sitters. What is his own is the astonishing realism of the satin, lace and skin, which made him the finest portraitist in the colonies.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

John Singleton Copley painted this in about 1763, aged about 22. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [John Singleton Copley](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/john-singleton-copley)

American, 1738–1815; born in Boston, Massachusetts; died in London

Copley was largely self-taught and became colonial America’s finest portraitist, painting Boston merchants and their families with sharp, tactile realism, from glinting silver to polished mahogany. In 1774, on the eve of the Revolution, he left for Europe and settled in London, where he turned to large modern history paintings such as Watson and the Shark and The Death of Major Peirson. He never returned to America.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: American
- The artist was about 22
- Real size: about 50 × 40 in (127 × 101 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 20 × 30 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 18th century
- Subjects: Portraits, Women, Dogs
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/816.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/816/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/mrs-jerathmael-bowers-met-10530).