Watson and the Shark
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Where to see it
A series of works - in several collections
About the painting
Watson and the Shark is an oil painting by the Anglo-American painter John Singleton Copley, depicting the rescue of the English boy Brook Watson from a shark attack in Havana, Cuba.
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Copley, then living in London, painted three versions, which are all now in the United States. The 1778 version is in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. A second, full-size 1778 replica is now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and a third, smaller, 1782 version with a more vertical composition is in the Detroit Institute of Arts.
The paintings are based on an attack that took place in Havana Harbor in 1749. Brook Watson, then a 14-year-old cabin boy on the Royal Consort, lost his right leg below the knee in the attack, and was not rescued until the third attempt, which is the subject of the painting. Watson, having had a military career and become a successful merchant, commissioned the painting from Copley twenty-five years after the event. Watson went on to be chairman of Lloyd's of London, a Member of Parliament, and Lord Mayor of London.
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Image: John Singleton Copley; Wikimedia Commons · public domain