Benjamin West
American, 1738-1820
Person TypeIndividual
BiographyBorn in Springfield, Pennsylvania. When he was a child, Native Americans showed him how to make paint by mixing some clay from the river bank with bear grease in a pot. From 1746 to 1759, West worked in Pennsylvania, mostly painting portraits. While West was in Lancaster in 1756, his patron, a gunsmith named William Henry, encouraged him to paint a Death of Socrates based on an engraving in Charles Rollin's Ancient History. His resulting composition, which significantly differs from the source, has been called "the most ambitious and interesting painting produced in colonial America". Dr William Smith, then the provost of the College of Philadelphia, saw the painting in Henry's house and decided to patronize West, offering him education and, more importantly, connections. He was influenced by John Wollaston, a famous painter who had immigrated from London. West learned Wollaston's techniques for painting the shimmer of silk and satin, and also adopted some of "his mannerisms, the most prominent of which was to give all his subjects large almond-shaped eyes. West was a close friend of Benjamin Franklin, whose portrait he painted. In 1763, West went to England and never returned to America. He received patronage from King George III who appointed him historical painter to the court. He painted a series of eight large canvases showing scenes from the life of Edward III for St George's Hall at Windsor Castle,[18] and proposed a cycle of 36 works on the theme of "the progress of revealed religion" for a chapel at the castle, of which 28 were eventually executed. He also painted nine portraits of members of the royal family, including two of the king himself. In 1770, he painted his most famous, and possibly most influential painting, The Death of General Wolfe, in 1770. He lost royal patronage at the beginning of the 19th century and began a series of large-scale religious works. West died at his house in Newman Street, London, on 11 March 1820, and was buried in St Paul's Cathedral.]