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Preview image of work. oil on canvas,  Portrait of Thomas Flucker 255
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1855.1

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Portrait of Thomas Flucker

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Artist

John Singleton Copley (Boston, Massachusetts, 1738 - 1815, London, England)

Title

Portrait of Thomas Flucker

Creation Date

1770-1771

Century

18th century

Dimensions

28 1/16 in. x 24 1/4 in. (71.28 cm x 61.6 cm)

Object Type

painting

Creation Place

North America, United States

Medium and Support

oil on canvas

Credit Line

Bequest of Mrs. Lucy Flucker Thatcher

Copyright

Public Domain

Accession Number

1855.1

This painting is considered the most physically and psychologically striking colonial portrait at Bowdoin, Thomas Flucker was an important political figure in late eighteenth-century Boston. A Tory, he fled to England in 1775. It has been suggested that the painting’s somber palette and empty background (without the traditional attributes which situate the sitter in society) may allude to the gathering storm clouds and upheavals which would culminate in the American Revolution.

Keywords: portraits