''Portrait of Benjamin West'' is a 1785
portrait painting
Portrait painting is a Hierarchy of genres, genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commissio ...
by the American
artist
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...
Gilbert Stuart
Gilbert Stuart ( Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter born in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-k ...
of the noted Anglo-American painter
Benjamin West
Benjamin West (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as ''The Death of Nelson (West painting), The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the ''Treaty of Paris ( ...
. West, a future
President of the Royal Academy
Officers of the Royal Academy of Arts
This is a list of the officers of the Royal Academy of Arts
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a ...
settled in Britain during the 1760s. His epic 1770
battle painting ''
The Death of General Wolfe
''The Death of General Wolfe'' is a 1770 painting by Anglo-American artist Benjamin West, commemorating the 1759 Battle of Quebec, where General James Wolfe died at the moment of victory. The painting, containing vivid suggestions of martyrdom, ...
'' established him as a leading artist.
West is shown seated in front of a dark green
curtain
A curtain is a piece of cloth or other material intended to block or obscure light, air drafts, or (in the case of a shower curtain) water.
Curtains are often hung on the inside of a building's windows to block the passage of light. For instan ...
. His hand rests on books including
Tobias Smollett
Tobias George Smollett (bapt. 19 March 1721 – 17 September 1771) was a Scottish writer and surgeon. He was best known for writing picaresque novels such as ''The Adventures of Roderick Random'' (1748), ''The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle'' ...
's book ''History of England''. In the background is West's as yet unfished religious painting ''Moses Receiving the Law''. It was originally commissioned by
John Boydell
John Boydell ( ; – 12 December 1804) was an English publisher noted for his reproductions of engravings. He helped alter the trade imbalance between Britain and France in engravings and initiated an English tradition in the art form. A former ...
who ran the
Boydell Shakespeare Gallery
The Boydell Shakespeare Gallery in London, England, was the first stage of a three-part project initiated in November 1786 by engraver and publisher John Boydell in an effort to foster a School (discipline), school of British history painting. ...
. It is now in the collection of the
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to:
* National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra
* National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred
*National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C.
*National Portrait Gallery, London
...
in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
having been acquired in 1872.
[https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitExtended/mw06707/Benjamin-West?]
See also
* ''
Portrait of Benjamin West
''Portrait of Benjamin West'' is an 1810 portrait painting by the British artist Thomas Lawrence depicting the Anglo-American painter Benjamin West. Ten years later Lawrence succeeded West, on his death, as the President of the Royal Academy.
H ...
'', an 1810 portrait of the artist by
Thomas Lawrence
Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English people, English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was a ...
References
Bibliography
* Barratt, Carrie Rebora & Miles, Ellen G. ''Gilbert Stuart''. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004.
* Ingamells, John. ''National Portrait Gallery Mid-Georgian Portraits, 1760–1790''. National Portrait Gallery, 2004.
* Staiti, Paul. ''Of Arms and Artists: The American Revolution through Painters' Eyes''. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2016.
{{DEFAULTSORT:West, Portrait of Benjamin (Stuart)
1785 paintings
Paintings by Gilbert Stuart
Paintings in the National Portrait Gallery, London
Books in art