The Return of Neptune

The Return of Neptune

John Singleton Copley

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A prodigious talent at fifteen, John Singleton Copley learned his trade by copying reproductions of Italian mythological paintings. This charming juvenilia depicting Neptune and his retinue reminds us that Copley and the sitters in his later, mature portraits lived along the New England Coast and were deeply connected—economically and psychologically—to the sea.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Return of NeptuneThe Return of NeptuneThe Return of NeptuneThe Return of NeptuneThe Return of Neptune

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.