e more noteworthy
Copleys.

A portrait of John Adams, full length, painted in London in 1783, is now
in possession of Harvard College. A portrait of Samuel Adams,
three-quarters length, spirited and beautiful, standing by a table, and
holding a paper, hangs in Faneuil Hall. Another picture of Samuel Adams is
in Harvard College, which also owns several other Copleys. A portrait of
James Allen, a man of fortune, a patriot, and a scholar, is now owned by
the Massachusetts Historical Society. The "Copley Family," one of the
artist's very best pictures, is now owned in Boston by Mr. Amory, and, in
fact, Mrs. James S. Amory owns a number of his best works.

Copley was a man of elegance and dignity, fond of the beautiful,
particular in his dress, hospitable, and a lover of poetry and the arts.
His favorite book was said to be "Paradise Lost." His last picture was on
the subject of the Resurrection.

BENJAMIN WEST (1738-1820) was born at Springfield, Pennsylvania, of Quaker
parentage. In the various narratives of his successful life many stories
are told which appear somewhat fabulous, and most of which have nothing to
do with his subsequent career. He is said to have made a pen-and-ink
portrait of his little niece at the age of seven years; to have shaved the
cat's tail for paint brushes; to have received instruction in painting and
archery from the Indians; to have so far conquered the prejudices of his
relatives and their co-religionists to his adoption of an artist's life
that he was solemnly consecrated to it by the laying on of hands by the
men, and the simultaneous kissing of the women. His love for art must have
been very strong, and he was finally indulged, and assisted in it by his
relatives, so that at the age of eighteen he was established as a
portrait-painter in Philadelphia. By the kindness of friends in that city
and in New York he was enabled to go to Italy, where he remained three
years, making friends and reputation everywhere. Parma, Florence, and
Bologna elected him a member of their Academies. He was only twenty-five
years old when he went to England, on his way back to America. But he was
so well received that he finally determined to remain in England, and a
young lady named Elizabeth Shewell, to whom he had become engaged before
going abroad, was kind and judicious enough to join him in London, where
she became his wife, and was his faithful helpmate for fifty years. In
1766 he exhibited his "Orestes