Live Auction 2511Old Master & 19th Century Paintings, Drawings & Watercolors Part II
John Singleton Copley (Boston? 1738-1815 London)
Lot 159 Property from the Corcoran Gallery of Art to Benefit the Acquisition Fund

John Singleton Copley (Boston? 1738-1815 London)

Portrait of Colonel Jacob Fowle (1704-78), three-quarter length, with a musket

Closed26 January 2011

Price Realised

USD 74,500

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John Singleton Copley (Boston? 1738-1815 London)
Portrait of Colonel Jacob Fowle (1704-78), three-quarter length, with a musket
oil on canvas
50 x 40½ in. (127 x 102.9 cm.)

The heirs of William Fowle, Alexandria, Virginia, and by descent within the family, to
Mary H. Daingerfield, by whom gifted to
The Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.

Specialist note

Jacob Fowle (or Fowler) was born at Marblehead to Jacob Fowl and Susanna Nick. He married 'Marey' Rowland and was the colonel of the fifth regiment of militia in the County of Essex, where he was also an important merchant. It is possible that in this portrait, Copley has created a visual pun on the sitter's name, representing the sitter with his gun, or fowling piece. Prown (op. cit.) dates this painting to circa 1761, when the artist was in his twenties.