Tuesday, May 18, 2004

JAMA's Weekly Art History Lesson: I used to enjoy linking to the cover art of JAMA each week, and the little art history lesson by Dr. Southgate that accompanies them. But, then JAMA made them subscription-only and I had to give it up. This week's art lesson is worth excerpting, though. The art:


Watson and the Shark. John Singleton Copley, 1782.

According to Southgate, Copley painted three different versions of this over the years. This is the third one. It is based on an event in the life of Brooke Watson, a British politician. It seems to have been the defining moment of his life:

While crossing the Atlantic on his way to England in 1774, the American Colonial painter John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) met Brooke Watson, a 30-something rising London politician who wore a wooden peg in place of his lower right leg. To all who would listen, Watson recounted in grisly detail how he had lost the leg when he was 14 in a harrowing encounter with a shark in Havana Harbor....

...Watson, meanwhile, continued his political ascent, becoming a baronet in 1803. For his coat-of-arms he chose to show Neptune, his trident, and a large fish. In the lower left corner of the shield, in profile, is an image of a right lower leg and foot.

Amazing how a few traumatic moments can shape and shadow a life forever.

 

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