Watson and the Shark

John Singleton Copley

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The painting depicts a chaotic scene on the water. A man lies in the water, reaching out with his right arm. His body faces right. He is nude. A shark with its mouth open and sharp teeth swims beneath the water on the bottom right. A boat with eight people in it is to the right. A man in the boat on the right holds a long pole in the air with his right hand and grabs the nude man's wrist with his left hand. A man lies across the laps of two people sitting in the boat. The man on the left side of the boat wears a brown jacket and holds an oar. A man stands on the back of the boat and faces left. He wears a brown jacket. A man lies across two people's laps on the right side of the boat. He wears a white shirt. Two men and a woman are on either side of him. A city skyline with buildings and ships on the water are in the background. The sky is cloudy.