Rescue Group

between 1777 and 1778

John Singleton Copley American, 1738-1815

Not On View

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata

About the Artwork

Please note: This section is empty
Markings

Please note: This section is empty

This section contains information about signatures, inscriptions and/or markings an object may have.
Provenance

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance page
Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
Catalogue Raisonné

Please note: This section is empty

A catalogue raisonné is an annotated listing of artworks created by an artist across different media.
Credit Line for Reproduction

Please note: This section is empty

The credit line includes information about the object, such as the artist, title, date, and medium. Also listed is its ownership, the manner in which it was acquired, and its accession number. This information must be cited alongside the object whenever it is shown or reproduced.

About the Artwork

This drawing is a preparatory sketch made for the DIA’s painting of Watson and the Shark (acc. no. 46.310).

Title Rescue Group

Artwork Date between 1777 and 1778

Artist John Singleton Copley

Life Dates 1738-1815

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Black chalk heightened with white, squared for transfer in red chalk, on green-gray laid paper

Dimensions Sheet (irregular): 14 1/4 × 21 3/4 inches (36.2 × 55.2 cm) Framed: 24 1/4 × 30 1/4 × 1 1/8 inches (61.6 × 76.8 × 2.9 cm)

Classification Drawings

Department Prints, Drawings & Photographs

Credit City of Detroit Purchase

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 48.203

Markings

Inscriptions In pencil, upper right: The Length of the Ship is 2 feet 2 inches -------

Provenance

(M. Knoedler & Co., New York, New York, USA);
1948-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

Newberry, John S. "Four Drawings by Copley," Bulletin of the DIA 28, no. 2 (1949): pp. 33-35, p. 33 (fig. 3).

Prown, Jules David. John Singleton Copley, vol. 2 [of 2]. Cambridge, 1966, viii, pp. 272–274, (fig. 378).

Neff, Emily Ballew. "Like Gudgeons to a Worm: John Singleton Copley’s 'Watson and the Shark’ and the Cultures of Natural History.” In American Adversaries: Wes and Copley in a Tranatlantic World. Houston, 2013, pp. 184-184; p. 184 (fig. 176).

Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.

Suggest Feedback

Catalogue Raisoneé

Please note: This section is empty

Credit Line for Reproduction

John Singleton Copley, Rescue Group, between 1777 and 1778, black chalk heightened with white, squared for transfer in red chalk, on green-gray laid paper. Detroit Institute of Arts, City of Detroit Purchase, 48.203.