JOSEPH BLACKBURN (1774)

Itinerant portrait painter who, working in Bermuda (c. 1752-53) and later in New England (c. 1753-64) introduced the decorative tradition of English rococo portraiture to the American colonies.

Blackburn´s services were eagerly sought by wealthy American colonials.

In an occasional portrait, such as that of Theodore Atkinson (Worcester Art Museum. Mass.), some degree of individuality shows in the features; but most of his works, particularly his likenesses of women, emphasize pose and costume at the expense of characterization.

Blackburn frequently repeated a composition more than once, even in details of clothing and jewelry. His posing of his subjects and compositional arrangement briefly exerted an influence on the youthful John Singleton Copley.

Around 1764 Blackburn, perhaps discouraged by Copley´s rapidly ascending reputation, returned to England. 

His career after the American period is obscure. The only other bit of biographical documentation is the record of a payment made in 1774 for two portraits painted in England.