(Copley, John Singleton)

2 broadsheets joined (together, 25  1/4  x 18  1/8  in.; 642 x 460 mm), being a certificate of appointment of John Singleton Copley to the Royal Academy of Arts , signed by Joshua Reynolds, President, and F. W. Newton, Secretary, [London], 11 November 1776, letterpress text, monumental engraved allegorical vignette and borders after G. B. Cipriani by F. Bartolozzi, seal of the Academy affixed in blue wax; browned, upper left corner (approx. 1 in.) detached but present.  Matted, glazed and framed.  Not examined out of frame.

An important document relating to the greatest artist of colonial America, signed by Joshua Reynolds.  John Singleton Copley first came to the attention of the British art world in 1766 when his celebrated Boy with a Squirrel was exhibited in London.  As the American Revolution neared, with Copley's family connections all firmly Loyalist, the painter left Boston and settled in London in 1774.  Two years later, with the support of Reynolds and Benjamin West, he was made a member of the Royal Academy.