Benjamin West

c. 1776

Shown from about the ribcage up, a cleanshaven man with pale skin sits with his elbow resting on the arm of his chair so the back of those fingers brush his chin in this vertical portrait painting. His body and face are angled to our right almost in profile so he looks at us from the corners of his brown eyes under dark, arched eyebrows. He has a straight nose, and his pale coral-pink lips are closed. His nickel-gray hair is curled along his ears and pulled back with an olive-green bow at the nape of his neck. His large hat is pushed back over his forehead, away from us, so its wide brim creates a dark circle around his face. The lapels of his steel-blue, tight-fitting jacket are folded back over a high, white collar. The edge of the white shirt also shows at the cuff of his right hand. The elbow closer to us rests on what might be a piece of light gray paper or piece of fabric, over a cranberry-red cloth or the arm of the upholstered chair. His left hand, farther from us, is propped on a wood frame or board, to which a small, white, square cloth appears to be affixed or draped. The light falls strongly from our upper left so his profile is brightly lit against the dark shadows on the far side of his face. The background darkens from light, slate blue to our left to coffee brown to our right.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 75.8 x 63 cm (29 13/16 x 24 13/16 in.)
    framed: 102.9 x 89.5 x 10.2 cm (40 1/2 x 35 1/4 x 4 in.)

  • Accession

    1942.8.39

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Tooth Brothers, London), sold 15 May 1919 to Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York;[1] his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection on 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1942 to NGA.
[1] The name of the seller and the date of purchase are recorded in a copy of Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Collected by Thomas B. Clarke, Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928, annotated with information from files of M. Knoedler & Co., NY (copy in NGA curatorial records and in NGA library). Correspondence about the sale was with G. Stanley Sedgwick, who seems to have had a business arrangement with the Tooth Brothers and with Clarke. His letters of 14 and 24 April and 5 May 1919 precede the shipping notice from Hensel, Bruckmann & Lorbacher dated 13 May 1919, announcing the arrival of the painting in New York (NGA curatorial files). Additional correspondence indicates that Sedgwick hoped to locate other works by Gilbert Stuart for Clarke's collection and was searching for The Skater [NGA 1950.18.1] and portraits of the Hartigans [NGA 1942.8.16], Luke White [NGA 1942.8.28], and the Pollocks [NGA 1942.8.18 and 1942.8.19] (NGA Clarke collection files).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1922

  • Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Benjamin West and of Engravings Representing His Work, Brooklyn Museum, 1922

1924

  • Exhibition of the Earliest Known Portraits of Americans by Painters of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, The Union League Club, March 1924, no. 9, as Self-Portrait by Benjamin West.

1928

  • Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928-1931, unnumbered and unpaginated catalogue, as by Benjamin West.

1943

  • American Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1943.

1944

  • John Trumbull and his Contemporaries, Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, 1944, no. 139, as Self Portrait by Benjamin West.

1947

  • Early American Portraits and Silver [Golden Jubilee of the Colonial Dames of America], J. B. Speed Memorial Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, 1947, no cat., as Self-Portrait by Benjamin West.

1948

  • American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1948.

1949

  • American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1949.

1950

  • From Plymouth Rock to the Armory, The Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL, 1950, no. 23.

  • The Face of American History, Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina, 1950, no. 21, as Self-Portrait by Benjamin West.

  • Benjamin West: His Times and His Influence, Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, 1950, no. 4.

1951

  • American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1951.

  • American Portraits from the National Gallery of Art, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 1951, no. 6 (organized by the Atlanta Art Association).

1952

  • [Opening exhibition], Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1952, no. cat.

  • Opening Exhibition of The George Thomas Hunter Gallery of Art, Chattanooga Art Association, Tennessee, 1952, unnumbered.

1955

  • American Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1955.

  • Famous Americans, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, Maryland, 1955, no cat.

1960

  • Faces of America, Inaugural Exhibition, El Paso Museum of Art, Texas, 1960-1961, no cat.

1965

  • Inaugural Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL, 1965, no. 5

1968

  • The Age of Queen Charlotte, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC, 1968, no. 33

1975

  • Drawings by Benjamin West and His Son Raphael Lamar West, The Pierpont-Morgan Library, New York, 1975

1980

  • Benjamin West and His American Students, National Portrait Gallery, Washington; The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1980-1981, 52

1987

  • Extended loan for use by the Ambassador, U.S. Embassy residence, London, England, 1987-1991.

1998

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassador Philip Lader, U.S. Embassy residence, London, England, 1998-2001.

Bibliography

1922

  • "Summary of Press Notices on the Benjamin West Exhibition." Brooklyn Museum Quarterly 9, no. 3 (July 1922): 138.

  • Rosenthal, Albert. "The Benjamin West Exhibition." Brooklyn Museum Quarterly 9, no. 3 (July 1922): repro. 134.

1928

  • Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke. Exh. cat. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928, unnumbered, as Self-Portrait by Benjamin West.

  • Lee, Cuthbert. "The Thomas B. Clarke Collection of Early American Portraits." American Magazine of Art 19, no. 6 (June 1928): repro. 298.

1937

  • Jewell, Edward Alden. "Mellon's Gift." Magazine of Art 30, no. 2 (February 1937): 79, repro.

1950

  • Morgan, Charles H., and Margaret C. Toole. "Benjamin West: His Times and His Influence." Art in America (December 1950): 209.

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 120, repro., as Self-Portrait by Benjamin West.

1973

  • Van Devanter, Ann C. "Benjamin West and his Self-Portraits." Antiques Magazine 103 (April 1973): 764-773.

1975

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 379, repro.

1977

  • Dillenberger 1977, 6, repro.

1980

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 12, repro.

  • Evans, Dorinda. Benjamin West and His American Students. Exh. cat. National Portrait Gallery, Washington; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Washington, 1980: 52, fig. 35.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 256, repro., as Self-Portrait by Benjamin West.

1981

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 40, color repro. 43, as by Benjamin West.

1983

  • Johnston, Sona K. American Paintings, 1750-1900, from the Collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore, 1983: repro. 179, 180.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 375, no. 528, color repro., as Self-Portrait by Benjamin West.

1986

  • Von Erffa and Staley 1986, 452.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 376, repro., as Self-Portrait by Benjamin West.

1995

  • Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 348-351, repro. 349.

Wikidata ID

Q20178792

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