John Singleton Copley face swap

Where this one comes from

Copley taught himself to paint in Boston, largely from prints, and by his twenties was better than anyone else working in the colonies. He spent years writing to London for advice and finally sailed in 1774, months before the war began, and stayed for the rest of his life. He painted this circular self-portrait in the early 1780s, by which time he was a Royal Academician making enormous history pictures. He never saw America again.

What is in the picture

A round canvas with a saffron-yellow ground, which is an unusual choice and makes the whole picture feel like a medal. He is in a dark coat with a white stock and a powdered wig, turned away and looking back over the shoulder. The handling is confident and quick, worlds away from the tight enamelled surfaces of his Boston portraits — you can watch a colonial craftsman having become a London professional in the space of ten years.

When people use it

For leaving somewhere and doing well out of it. It suits an emigration, a career change, and any caption about the road not taken working out fine.

How your face lands in it

A three-quarter head turned back over the shoulder, lit from the front, with a powdered wig covering the hairline entirely. The tondo format crops close, so the face fills a good share of the picture. Something shot at a slight angle settles in better than a square one.

Self-Portrait — John Singleton Copley, c. 1780–1784. John Singleton Copley died in 1815, so the painting has been in the public domain for over a century and a faithful reproduction of it gains no new rights. Source

Also in: Paintings · Self-portraits