In a letter dated August 13, 1987, Professor Jules D. Prown writes on this work "...it seems to be the earliest dated work by his hand, done just before he turned fourteen. The drawing has a lumpy and lumpish quality similar to the drawing of the figure from The Battle of the River Granicus after Charles Le Brun (fig. 14 in vol. 1 of my Copley book). This drawing may also be after some such source. I doubt that it is a life drawing of his half brother, Henry Pelham, who would have been about three at the time. The drawing is certainly of considerable historical interest.

RELATED LITERATURE
J. Prown, John Singleton Copley, Cambridge, vol. 1, fig. 14.