Watson and the Shark

A young man flails in the churning green water of Havana harbor as a great shark rises beneath him, jaws open, while the crew of a small boat strains to haul him to safety — the sailor in the bow gripping the drowning boy’s arm, a Black oarsman rising tall amidships, and a young man at the stern lunging with a harpoon at the monstrous fish. John Singleton Copley painted the scene in London in 1778, working from the account of the fourteen-year-old Brook Watson, who lost his leg in the attack that this picture turned into one of the great set pieces of American art. Composed with the urgency of history painting and the drama of a shipwreck, the canvas presents the rescue as a contest between fate and human courage, the pale body of the victim catching the light against the dark sea while the sky over the harbor stays calm and indifferent. The painting is held in the National Gallery of Art, Washington.