An American artist's British masterpieces.

Although he more often is recognized for his colonial portraits, John Singleton Copley's dramatic depictions of contemporary events spearheaded an innovative wave of historical paintings.

JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY, well-known as the finest American portraitist of the colonial era, followed this achievement with another long and successful painting career in England. He had left America in 1774, acting on his long-standing desire to pursue artistic goals abroad as the impending struggle between the Colonies and Great Britain threatened to disrupt the art market.

"Although Copley is more often recognized for his colonial portraits, in England he made pivotal contributions to contemporary history painting," notes Earl A. Powell III, director of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., which is presenting 41 of his works in an exhibition, "John Singleton Copley in England."

Largely self-taught, Copley had surpassed the paintings and painters in his native Boston. To advance, he needed to study the works of the Old Masters, which he knew only from engraved reproductions. Also, he objected to what he saw as the limitations on painting in colonial America and complained that painting was thought of like "any other usefull trade... like that of a Carpenter or shew maker, not as one of the most noble Arts in the World."

After more than a year in Rome sketching classical art and studying Renaissance and baroque masterpieces, Copley settled in London with his family. In 1777, he exhibited his painting, "The Copley Family," at the Royal Academy. It was his most ambitious and complex group portrait as well as his largest work up to that fume, intended to announce his abilities as a portrait painter in England. The realism of the faces and skillful representation of fabrics are typical of Copley's American style, but the brushwork is more varied, from thickly stroked passages to transparent glazes. Copley's portraits remained an important source of income for him in England.

It was his dramatic depiction of a contemporary event, the rescue of a young English merchant seaman from a shark attack in Havana harbor, that established Copley's reputation in England. "Watson and the Shark" helped to broaden, popularize, and redefine history painting by transforming an episode in the life of an ordinary man into a parable of salvation.

"The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781" is the centerpiece of the exhibition. Major Francis Peirson, who was leading a...