Copley, John Singleton. A Boy with a Flying Squirrel (Henry Pelham).

The boy in the painting is Copley’s half-brother, Henry Pelham. Copley sends the painting to London a year later, where it is exhibited by the London Society of Artists, prompting very favorable comments and invitations to study and work in London. Sir Joshua Reynolds declares, “that if you were capable of producing such a Piece by the mere Efforts of your Genius, with the advantages of the Example and Instruction which you could have in Europe, You would be a valuable Acquisition to the Art, and one of the first Painters in the World, provided you could receive these Aids before it was too late in Life . . . ” Copley follows Reynolds’ advice in 1775.* The painting is today owned by the Museum of Fine Arts.