Inventing American Stories, 1765–1830

John Singleton Copley (American, 1738–1815)
Watson and the Shark, 1778
Oil on canvas; 71 3/4 x 90 1/2 in. (182.1 x 229.7 cm)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Ferdinand Lammot Belin Fund (1963.6.1)
Image courtesy of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

For the notorious British merchant Brook Watson, Copley created a redemptive, retrospective narrative in crisp, legible detail for a grand venue, the Royal Academy of Arts, London. The picture tells a tale from Watson's youth: in 1749 the orphaned fourteen-year-old boy was crewing for a merchant marine in Havana Harbor, Cuba, when he was attacked by a shark while swimming. Watson was dragged under water three times and lost a leg before his fellow crewmen were able to save him by stabbing the shark with a boat hook. On public view in 1778, the painting promoted Copley, just three years after he left Boston. It also redeemed Watson—a controversial character reviled by some for dishonorable business practices and unethical political motives—by showing that he had been delivered from the jaws of death, a salvation accorded only those of high moral fiber and undeniable goodness.