Benjamin West

American, 1738 - 1820

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18th- and 19th-century English painter

Explore Selected Works

See all 29 works of art
Benjamin West, Telemachus and Calypso, c. 1809, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Gift of Bernice West Beyers), 2015.19.98

Telemachus and Calypso

Benjamin West · c. 1809 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2015.19.98

Benjamin West, The Adoration of the Shepherds, 1805, pen and brown ink with brown wash and blue gouache heightened with white on wove paper mounted to board, Julius S. Held Collection, Avalon Fund, 1984.3.72

The Adoration of the Shepherds

Benjamin West · 1805 · pen and brown ink with brown wash and blue gouache heightened with white on wove paper mounted to board ·  Accession ID  1984.3.72

Benjamin West, This is my Beloved Son, 1802, lithograph, Rosenwald Collection, 1980.45.1515

This is my Beloved Son

Benjamin West · 1802 · lithograph ·  Accession ID  1980.45.1515

Benjamin West, Angel of the Resurrection, 1801, pen-and-tusche lithograph, Rosenwald Collection, 1947.7.135

Angel of the Resurrection

Benjamin West · 1801 · pen-and-tusche lithograph ·  Accession ID  1947.7.135

Benjamin West, The Flight into Egypt, c. 1800, pen and brown ink and wash, heightened with white gouache, on laid paper, Gift of Professor William B. O'Neal, 1990.57.6

The Flight into Egypt

Benjamin West · c. 1800 · pen and brown ink and wash, heightened with white gouache, on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1990.57.6

Benjamin West, Maria Hamilton Beckford (Mrs. William Beckford), 1799, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1947.17.23

Maria Hamilton Beckford (Mrs. William Beckford)

Benjamin West · 1799 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1947.17.23

Benjamin West, Elizabeth, Countess of Effingham, c. 1797, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1947.17.101

Elizabeth, Countess of Effingham

Benjamin West · c. 1797 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1947.17.101

Benjamin West, The Crucifixion, 1796/1797, pen and brown and black ink with blue, black, and red chalk on laid paper, Julius S. Held Collection, Avalon Fund, 1984.3.73

The Crucifixion

Benjamin West · 1796/1797 · pen and brown and black ink with blue, black, and red chalk on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1984.3.73

Benjamin West, The Disobedient Prophet, 1793, pen and black ink with wash heightened with blue and cream oil paint over chalk, Julius S. Held Collection, Avalon Fund, 1984.3.74

The Disobedient Prophet

Benjamin West · 1793 · pen and black ink with wash heightened with blue and cream oil paint over chalk ·  Accession ID  1984.3.74

In the left half of this horizonal painting, a winged angel gestures with arms raised over a man and woman being forced away from a bank of clouds set against a flat and barren landscape. The angel, man, and woman all have pale skin. The blond angel is dressed in a flowing white robe with coral-red fabric that hangs over one arm and billows behind. Kneeling in front of the angel, the woman wears a toga that appears to be made from an ivory-colored animal skin. Her long auburn-brown hair falls in waves around her shoulders, and she looks up to the sky, her mouth open. She kneels with her body facing our right, and she grasps the man’s right arm, closer to us. The man wears a chestnut-brown fur garment around his hips and he covers his face with his other hand. His brown curls and the animal skin blow in the wind. Gold and cream-white clouds envelop the angel to our left and give way to the shadowed landscape to our right. A dagger-like spear of light thrusts out of the clouds from above the angel, toward the man and woman. Thistles grow close to us in the foreground and, to our right, a striped serpent lifts its head and flicks out its tongue. A lion attacks two horses beyond the people, and in the sky above, an eagle swoops down on a heron. The navy-blue horizon line in the deep distance could indicate a body of water. Small patches of blue sky appear through breaks in the clouds.
Benjamin West, The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, 1791, oil on canvas, Avalon Fund and Patrons' Permanent Fund, 1989.12.1

The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise

Benjamin West · 1791 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1989.12.1

Bibliography

1938

  • Sawitsky, William. "The American Work of Benjamin West." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 62, no. 4 (October 1938): 433-462.

1982

  • Abrams, Ann Uhry. "A New Light on Benjamin West's Pennsylvania Instruction." Winterthur Portfolio 17 (1982): 243-257.

1986

  • Von Erffa, Helmut, and Allen Staley. The Paintings of Benjamin West. New Haven and London, 1986.

1989

  • Benjamin West; American Painter at the English Court. Essay by Allen Staley. Exh. cat. The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1989.

1995

  • Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 316-317.