Watch out! In his painting “Watson and the Shark,” John Singleton Copley depicts a young boy thrashing in the water as a shark menacingly approaches. Copley based this work on a true story—in 1749, a young sailor named Brook Watson was swimming in Havana, Cuba, and was attacked by a shark. Watson survived the attack, and grew up to be a successful businessman and politician in England. Almost thirty years after the attack, he hired John Singleton Copley to paint his miraculous survival story. On view in the West Building, Gallery 60B. http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=46471

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