Activity Idea: Pepperrell Family (Quick Tip)

A large portrait of a family of six people posing in front of a green field, with trees on the left and a marble column and blue drapery on the right. The man stands on the left, gazing toward his seated wife, who holds the youngest child on her lap. The three other children are grouped around their mother. Two of them play with game pieces on a table on the right. There are two dogs in the bottom left corner.

  Use the following strategies with John Singleton Copley’s Sir William Pepperrell (1746-1816) and His Family  

  •  Imagine that the brown-and-white spaniel in the painting can talk. From his point of view, give a description of his activities on one of the days this portrait was being painted. What kind of relationship does he have with the Pepperrell family? What does he think about the artist? Share your stories as a class.

 

  •         In small groups, create tableaux vivants of the painting. Develop the characters using a character web [link], drawing your information about these people from the visual clues in the painting. Create a written dialogue for the character assigned to you. Find costumes and create a setting that is similar to the one in the painting. Perform the tableaux for another class.

 

  •         Families often pass artifacts and stories about relatives from one generation to the next. Imagine that your family has inherited an object that is shown in this painting. Describe the object in detail to a friend and recount the story of the owner’s life.

 

  •         Define portrait and biography and discuss their similarities and differences. Using Copley’s portrait and some background information [link], write a short biography of Sir William Pepperrell or his wife. Display the biographies next to an image of the painting.

 

  • ·         The Loyalist Pepperrells were forced to flee New England during the American Revolution. Read Rosalyn Schanzer’s George vs. George: The Revolutionary War as Seen by Both Sides to learn more about the two sides of the Revolution. From the point of view of Sir William Pepperrell, write a statement that defends the British Crown’s right to control the American colonies.
Grade level
K, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade
Subject Areas
English Language Arts, Social Studies, Visual Arts
Concepts
Family, Identity, Place