Skip to Main Content
Home>Collection>Telemachus and Calypso

Provenance

Possibly (the artist's estate sale, Henry J. and George Henry Robins, London, 20-22 June 1829, 1st day, no. 132, as Telemachus in the Island of Calypso, unfinished).[1] possibly Henry Corbould [1787-1844], in 1832.[2] (Mortimer Brandt [1905-1993], New York); acquired by Mrs. E. Lovette West [1885-1962, Bess Palmer West], Bronxville, New York; her daughter, Mrs. Robert A. Beyers [1906-1987, Bernice West Beyers], Chittenden, Vermont, and Dallas;[3] gift 1963 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art.

[1] Several versions by West exist of this subject. This provenance is according to Helmut von Erffa and Allen Staley, The Paintings of Benjamin West, New Haven and London, 1986: 259, no. 183. The 1829 artist's estate sale was one of two sales held that year by the artist's sons, Raphael Lamar West (1769-1850) and Benjamin West, Jr. (1772-1848).

[2] Von Erffa's and Staley's catalogue (see note 1) suggested that if this was the painting lent by Corbould to an exhibition in 1832, it may have been completed either by him or by his son, Edward Henry Corbould (1815-1905), as both were artists. Another possibility was suggested by Dorinda Evans, Benjamin West and His American Students, exh. cat., National Portrait Gallery, Washington; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1980-1981, Washington, 1980: 147 fig. 111, 148, 187 n. 46, who wrote that the figures of Calypso and her companions appear to be by one of West's students.

[3] Mrs. Beyers, a sculptor, was a descendant of Benjamin West, although her exact line of descent has not yet been determined.

Exhibition History

1832
Possibly [exhibition], Suffolk Street, London, 1832, no. 266, as Mentor and Telemachus.
1962
Loan to display with the permanent collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1962-1963.
1975
Seascape and the American Imagination, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 9 June - 7 September 1975, unnumbered catalogue, pl. II.
1978
The American Landscape Tradition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 31 January - 31 August 1978, unpublished checklist.
1980
Benjamin West and his American Students, National Portrait Gallery, Washingon; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 19 October 1980 - 19 April 1981, unnumbered catalogue, fig. 111.
1982
Americans and the Sea, Pensacola Museum of Art, 11 September - 31 October 1982, no. 37, repro.
1985
American Masterpieces from American Museums, Mint Museum, Charlotte, 1985-1986.

Bibliography

1966
Phillips, Dorothy W. A Catalogue of the Collection of American Paintings in The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Vol. 1: Painters born before 1850. Washington, 1966: 23, repro.
1975
Landgren, Marchal E. "American paintings at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C." The Magazine Antiques(November 1975): fig. 6.
1976
Sellin, David. American Art in the Making: Preparatory Studies for Masterpieces of American Painting, 1800-1900. Washington, D.C., 1976: fig. 2.
1980
Evans, Dorinda. Benjamin West and His American Students. Exh. cat. National Portrait Gallery, Washington; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Washington, 1980: 93, 148, 153, fig. 111.
1986
Von Erffa, Helmut, and Allen Staley. The Paintings of Benjamin West. New Haven and London, 1986: no. 183.
2011
Cash, Sarah, ed. Corcoran Gallery of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Washington, 2011: 324, repro.

Related Content

  • Sort by:
  • Results layout:
Show  results per page
The image compare list is empty.