servant played a role (there is no suggestion in contemporaneous sources). Copley modeled the civilians fleeing to the right on his wife, family nurse and children. Peirson became a national hero, and the painting drew crowds when it was first exhibited at 28 Haymarket in May 1784, with admission charged at 1 shilling. The Tate Gallery purchased the painting in 1864. Between 1989 and 2010, a copy appeared on the 10 Jersey pound note, and before that on the 1 pound note. See also The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775 – painting by John Trumbull, contemporary of Copley Notes References Citations Bibliography The English school; G. Hamilton; Charles Tilt, 1833; p. 193-5 Empires of the Imagination: Politics, War, and the Arts in the British World, 1750–1850; Holger Hoock; Profile Books, 2010; , p. 94-6 External links The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781 at the Tate Gallery's official website John Singleton Copley in America, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on the painting (fig. 10) Paintings by John Singleton Copley War paintings Flags in art Paintings about death Paintings about the American Revolution Collection of the Tate galleries 1783 paintings Cultural depictions of British men Cultural depictions of military officers Paintings of people