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WEST, BENJAMIN (1738-1820)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 535 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WEST, See also:BENJAMIN (1738-1820) , See also:English See also:historical and portrait-painter, was See also:born on the loth of See also:October 1738, at See also:Springfield, See also:Pennsylvania, of an old Quaker See also:family from See also:Buckinghamshire. When a boy of seven he began to show his inclinations to See also:art. According to a well-known See also:story, he was sitting by the See also:cradle of his See also:sister's See also:child, watching its See also:sleep, when the See also:infant happened to smile in its dreams, and, struck with its beauty, See also:young Benjamin got some See also:paper, and See also:drew its portrait. The career thus begun was prosecuted amid many difficulties; but his perseverance overcame every obstacle, and at the See also:age of eighteen he settled in See also:Philadelphia as a portrait-painter. After two years he removed to New See also:York, where he practised his profession with considerable success. In 176o, through the assistance of some See also:friends, he was enabled to See also:complete his See also:artistic See also:education by a visit to See also:Italy, where he remained nearly three years. Here he acquired reputation, and was elected a member of the See also:principal See also:academies of Italy. On the expiry of his See also:Italian visit he settled in See also:London as an historical painter. His success was not See also:long doubtful. See also:George III. took him under his See also:special patronage; and commissions flowed in upon him from all quarters. In 1768 he was one of the four artists who submitted to the See also:king the See also:plan for a royal See also:academy, of which he was one of the earliest members; and in 1772 he was appointed historical painter to the king. He devoted his See also:attention mainly to the See also:painting of large pictures on historical and religious subjects, conceived, as he believed, in the See also:style of the old masters, and executed with See also:great care and much See also:taste.

So high did he stand in public favour that on the See also:

death of See also:Sir See also:Joshua See also:Reynolds, in 1792, he was elected his successor as See also:president of the Royal Academy, an See also:office which he held for twenty-eight years. In 1802 he took See also:advantage of the opportunity afforded by the See also:peace of See also:Amiens to visit See also:Paris, and inspect the magnificent collection of the masterpieces of art, pillaged from the See also:gallery of almost every See also:capital in See also:Europe, which then adorned the Louvre. On his return to London he devoted himself anew to the labours of his profession, which were, however, somewhat broken in upon by quarrels with some of the members of the Royal Academy. In 1804 he resigned his office, but an all but unanimous See also:request that he should return to the See also:chair induced him to recall his resignation. See also:Time did not at all weaken the See also:energy with which he laboured at his easel. When sixty-five he painted one of his largest See also:works, " See also:Christ healing the Sick." This was originally designed to be presented to the See also:Quakers in Philadelphia, to assist in erecting a See also:hospital. On its completion it was exhibited in London to immense crowds, and was See also:purchased by the See also:British Institution for 3000 guineas, West sending a replica to Philadelphia. His subsequent works were nearly all on the same See also:grand See also:scale as the picture which had been so successful, butthey did not meet with very ready See also:sale. He died in London on the rrth of See also:March 182o, and was buried in St See also:Paul's. West's works, which fond See also:criticism ranked during his See also:life with the great productions of the old masters, are now considered as in See also:general formal, tame, wanting that freedom of nature and that life which See also:genius alone can breathe into the See also:canvas. His " Death of See also:Wolfe " is interesting as introducing See also:modern See also:costume instead of the classical draperies which had been previously universal in similar subjects by English artists; and his " See also:Battle of La Hogue " is entitled to an See also:honourable See also:place among British historical paintings. An See also:account of West's life was published by See also:Galt (The Progress of Genius, 1816).

See also H. T. Tuckerman, See also:

Book of the Artists (N.Y., 1868).

End of Article: WEST, BENJAMIN (1738-1820)

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