John Singleton Copley

Harriet Brown Chapman, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, about 1873-1903
John Finley Chapman, Pueblo, Colorado, about 1905-1960
Mrs. James Finley Chapman, Pueblo, Colorado, about 1960-1969
Charles Chapman, Mankato, Minnesota, 1969-1976
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York
Sotheby's, January 16, 1998, lot 236
Acquired by the present owner at the above sale

New York Cultural Center; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MInnesota; University of Houston Fine Art Center, Three Centuries of the American Nude, 1975, no. 2 (as lent by Mr. Charles B. Chapman)
New York, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, American Portraits by John Singleton Copley, 1975-1976, no. 2, illustrated (as The Forge of Vulcan)
New York, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, American Art from the Colonial and Federal Periods, no. 9, p. 17 illustrated
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, John Singleton Copley's America, June 7, 1995 - August 28, 1996

Augustus Thorndike Perkins, A Sketch of the Life and a List of Some of the Works of John Singleton Copley, 1873, p. 83 (as in the collection of Mrs. H.B. Chapman, Bridgewater, Massachusetts)
William Rankin, "An Impression of the Early Work of J.S. Copley", The Burlington Magazine, vol. VIII, October, 1905, pp. 68, 69, 73  illustrated (as in the collection of H.B. Chapman, Bridgewater, Massachusetts
Frank W. Bayley, A Sketch of the Life and a List of Some of the Works of John Singleton Copley, 1910, p. 74 (as in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts)
Barbara Neville Parker and Anne bolling Wheeler, John Singleton Copley, American Portraits, 1938, p. 131, pl. 5
James Thomas Flexner, "Benjamin West's American Neo-Classicism", The New-York HIstorical Society Quarterly, XXXVI, no., 1, January, 1952, pp. 28-29, illustrated
Jules David Prown, John Singleton Copley, 1966, vol. I, pp. 17-18, 236, fig. 11, vol. II, p. 250, foot note 18 (as in the Collection of Mrs. James F. Chapman, Pueblo, Colorado
Susan Rather, "Carpenter, Tailor, Shoemaker, Artist:  Portrait Painting and Status Around 1770", The Art Bulletin, January, 1996

Canvas is lined. SURFACE: in good condition UNDER ULTRA VIOLET: relatively few scattered dots/dashes throughout; a few spots at upper left (near upper edge)
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Mars, Venus and Vulcan is one of Copley's earliest works, dating from 1754, when he was sixteen and in his second year of painting in Boston.  It relates closely in style to Galatea (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) and The Return of Neptune (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), neither of which is signed or dated, but both of which are dated to1754.