BLACKBURN

blackburn, jonathan (c. 1700-c. 1765), american portrait painter, was born in connecticut. he seems to have been the son of a painter, and to have had a studio in boston in 1750-1765; among his patrons were many important early american families, including the apthorps, amorys, bulfinches, lowells, ewings, saltonstalls, winthrops, winslows and otises of boston. some of his portraits are in the possession of the public library of lexington, massachusetts, and of the massachusetts historical society, but most of them are privately owned and are scattered over the country, the majority being in boston. john singleton copley was his pupil, and it is said that he finally left his studio in boston, through jealousy of copley's superior success. he was a good portrait painter, and some of his pictures were long attributed to copley.