The dress is refined, but oversized and ill-fitting as befits a young boy. Here too, an Americanism is no doubt being added. Rather than make Henry Pelham appear too formal, as the scion of some great house in a European portrait, Copley reminds us that his subject is quite young and probably wearing hand-me-downs, or else some cost-saving garment into which he will eventually grow. It is a budding American disregard for class - a break with both the limners and the European masters. Copley's half-brother is both a young man of a good family and of a certain standing in society, and also any boy of the same age and similar means. In many ways, Henry Pelham comes across as a typical schoolboy. The way he holds string in his hand makes it appear like a pencil or pen that he is absent-mindedly twirling in his fingers as an unseen teacher continues with another tedious lesson. The desktop adds to this feeling, and the small glass of water might be doubling for an inkwell. Possibly, Copley means to give us the sense that his narrative, that is, the painter's, is actually being composed by the subjects of the painting - the boy and his squirrel. Like so many thinking Americans, Copley would have been conscious of the fact that his people were writing their own history, composing a narrative that did not quite fit with the age-old stories and traditions of Europe. The relative blankness of the background is well within European traditions of portraiture, but here it seems to serve for more than to make the human figure stand out to the viewer. In Copley's hands it is a metaphor for the "blank slate" that is both America, and the young boy. Each has a whole life ahead to make of it what he will. As well, the drape can be a curtain, as in a theater, concealing the drama that lies beyond. The simple straightforwardness of a boy, a face so easily read in the bright light, can conceal great complexity, dreams of the future, and infinite nuance. America might have appeared provincial, but there was much going on behind the scenes, not only inner turmoil, but dreams for a great future. Anything could happen on the stage behind that curtain. If only we could shift that light from the boy's face to what lies beyond. In 1774, John Singleton Copley moved at last to England. There his fame and importance would increase a she received commissions from George III and other notables. He would further refine his academic skills and continue to paint portraits that were inspired by the twin factors of the European classical tradition and his own uniquely American experiences. Much of the American experience revolved around a closeness to nature, and the resulting battles that ensued between human beings and sometimes overwhelming natural creatures and forces. Nature, like America, was vast; uncontrollable, and unpredictable. European painting typically demanded careful realism of form and extreme mathematical precision in composition and construction. Like the myths that were such frequent inspirations for European art, the works of academically-trained European artists followed strict models. A story could only be told in a particular fashion and certain symbols used to create a narrative that would be understood instantly by anyone with the proper education and training. Like the geometrically-arranged trees and flower beds of Versailles, and many an Italian palazzo, nature conformed to Arcadian norms. It was either pastorally tame, stage set or backdrop as in the works of Poussin, or wild in a studied sort of way as in the best paintings of the Dutch landscapists. As usual, John Singleton Copley took an American approach to both the historic painting and the landscape. Like many of his countrymen, he had learned to put together what worked, and so he took two different genres and fused them into one in his master Watson and the Shark (1778). In this, one of his greatest works, Copley portrays an actual event, and one that combined the sweep of personal history with the roiling power of nature. Powerful human emotions combine with a living nature as man faces beast. In Watson and the Shark, Copley portrays an actual shark attack that occurred in the Caribbean, capturing the awful assault at its most terrifying moment. Watson and the Shark is raw emotion stripped...
Had the significance of the issue not been eclipsed immediately by the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center that September, it is more likely than not that the focus on shark attacks would have continued and grown further despite the fact that most experts disputed the claim that the incidence of shark attacks on humans had increased at all (Broad, 2001). Much of the increased attention on shark attacks was
In truth, large sharks tend to hunt large blubbery prey with a much higher ratio of flesh-to-bone than human beings. That is apparently why many test bites on a human result in no further attack. In the last decade, a tourist industry has evolved in parts of the world with access to coral reefs and natural shark populations. Hand-feeding excursions allow divers, lead by more experienced professionals to encounter sharks
Sharks Are Dangerous to People: Finally, with respect to the argument that sharks constitute a genuine danger because they often attack and eat human beings, that point is both inaccurate and simplistic. Sharks actually avoid human beings except where drawn to us, either by the scent of blood in the water or perceptible signs of physical stress, both of which they evolved over many millions of years to detect (Perrine 1995).
Media If 911 had not happened do you think the Summer of the Shark would have become the Year of the Shark? If not, what do you think the next big story would have been? (search news sites and other online references to find other news stories that could have been big, but were overshadowed by 9/11) The term "summer of the shark" has become a joke to refer to the way
Dream AnalysisIn my dream, I am at the beach with my family. My little brother is with some others swimming in the ocean near the shore. I am on the balcony of the hotel, watching them play. Suddenly, I say a shark fin in the water and a dark shadow: a shark is swimming nearby and heading for them all. I try to shout to tell everyone to get out
Coastal Animals Sea Turtles (SeaWorld, 2004) From a taxonomy perspective, sea turtles belong to the overall class of reptilia. The order is testudines. The suborder cryptodira also includes fresh water turtles. There are two families of sea turtles. Based on their carapaces, sea turtles are divided into two families: bony -- covered with horny scutes -- turtles and leatherback turtles. There are eight species of sea turtles: green Chelonia mydas, black Chelonia
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