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Did John Singleton Copley Consider Himself 'American'?

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John Singleton Copley, Nicholas Boylston (1716-1771). Harvard University Portrait Collection. (Courtesy Harvard Art Museums)
John Singleton Copley, Nicholas Boylston (1716-1771). Harvard University Portrait Collection. (Courtesy Harvard Art Museums)
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John Singleton Copley painted some of Boston's most famous revolutionaries and founding fathers like John Hancock, Paul Revere and Samuel Adams. Those paintings have become part of our collective understanding of the revolution, making Copley a "great American painter."

But did this most American of painters consider himself "American"?

We took a trip to the Harvard Art Museums with historian Jane Kamensky to look at some of Copley's paintings and find out.

Guest

Jane Kamensky, author of the new book, "A Revolution In Color: The World Of John Singleton Copley" and professor of history at Harvard University, which tweets @harvard_history.

This segment aired on December 23, 2016.

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