Watson and the Shark

Watson and the Shark is an <a href="/facts/Oil_painting/rxn2lg9o">oil painting</a> by the Anglo-American painter <a href="/facts/John_Singleton_Copley/SY572dvc">John Singleton Copley</a>, depicting the rescue of the English boy <a href="/facts/Brook_Watson/7XUTmxVd">Brook Watson</a> from a <a href="/facts/Shark_attack/ECsBjx3T">shark attack</a> in <a href="/facts/Havana/Md8Krt6E">Havana</a>, <a href="/facts/Cuba/vHjTXLPW">Cuba</a>. 
Copley, then living in <a href="/facts/London/KozCCsy9">London</a>, painted three versions, which are all now in the United States. The 1778 version is in the <a href="/facts/National_Gallery_of_Art/yYm175jB">National Gallery of Art</a>, <a href="/facts/Washington,_D.C./enXPK156">Washington, D.C.</a> A second, full-size 1778 replica is now in the <a href="/facts/Museum_of_Fine_Arts,_Boston/PerM3TTv">Museum of Fine Arts, Boston</a>, and a third, smaller, 1782 version with a more vertical composition is in the <a href="/facts/Detroit_Institute_of_Arts/Y6lgmWM6">Detroit Institute of Arts</a>.
The paintings are based on an attack that took place in Havana harbour in 1749. Brook Watson, then a 14-year-old <a href="/facts/Cabin_boy/NtQT5aeD">cabin boy</a> 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 a quarter of century after the event. Watson went on to be <a href="/facts/Chairman/RS6EemFF">chairman</a> of <a href="/facts/Lloyd%27s_of_London/D5o3q5Hr">Lloyd's of London</a>, a <a href="/facts/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)/VegqN6nl">Member of Parliament</a>, and <a href="/facts/Lord_Mayor_of_London/28CFLNke">Lord Mayor of London</a>.

Watson and the Shark open-in-new

Watson and the Shark