Benjamin West
Self-Portrait
1769-1775
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Benjamin West
Self-Portrait
1769-1775
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, Framed: 38 x 33 x 3 3/4 in. (96.5 x 83.8 x 9.5 cm) Sight: 29 x 24 1/8 in. (73.7 x 61.3 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Dr. Morton K. Blaustein, Barbara B. Hirschhorn, and Elizabeth B. Roswell, in Memory of Jacob and Hilda K. Blaustein
Object Number
1981.73
Before and after the Revolution, ambitious Americans played important roles on the cultural stage abroad. During his many years in England, Benjamin West appealed to the British academic establishment by selecting elevated themes for his paintings. He executed them flawlessly and, as a consequence, was embraced by his British peers. Here, the self-assured artist depicts himself at the height of his fame following the success of his large historical painting The Death of General Wolfe (c. 1771, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa). With his left hand, West steadies a drawing board on which he has sketched figures that appear in the extreme right of General Wolfe, as if to immortalize his association with the celebrated work. West’s ideas and example influenced generations of American painters.
The Brooklyn Museum, New York, March, 1922 (lent by William G. Warden)
Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 1938, (lent by William G. Warden, School Lane, Germantown, Philadelphia)
Chicago, Illinois, Art Institute of Chicago, 1949
Gertrude Rosenthal, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'From El Greco to Pollock: Early and Late Works by European and American Artists,' October 22-December 8, 1968, no. 47.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Maryland Heritage, Five Baltimore Institutions Celebrate the American Bicentennial,' April 20-June 20, 1976, no. 20 illus. p. 69.
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Opening Exhibition of New Building, May 15-Sept. 5, 1988.
Sona Johnston, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Benjamin West: American Painter at the English Court,' June 4, 1989 - August 20,1989, no.24, pp. 12, ill.
Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 1938, (lent by William G. Warden, School Lane, Germantown, Philadelphia)
Chicago, Illinois, Art Institute of Chicago, 1949
Gertrude Rosenthal, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'From El Greco to Pollock: Early and Late Works by European and American Artists,' October 22-December 8, 1968, no. 47.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Maryland Heritage, Five Baltimore Institutions Celebrate the American Bicentennial,' April 20-June 20, 1976, no. 20 illus. p. 69.
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Opening Exhibition of New Building, May 15-Sept. 5, 1988.
Sona Johnston, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Benjamin West: American Painter at the English Court,' June 4, 1989 - August 20,1989, no.24, pp. 12, ill.
Sona K. Johnston, 'American Paintings 1750-1900, from the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art,' Baltimore, MD: The Museum, 1983, no. 158, ill. p. 179.
Helmut von Erffa and Allen Stanley, 'The Paintings of Benjamin West,' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986, pp. 451-452, ill. 526.
Baltimore Museum of Art. The American Wing. Brochure. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, [198-?], unpaged.
Staley, Allen. Benjamin West, American Painter at the English Court: June 4 – August 20, 1989. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1989, cat. no. 24, page 12.
Sister Wendy Beckett, "The Story of Painting," New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1994, ill. p. 245, no. 285.
Alan D. McNairn, 'Benjamin West and the Death of General Wolfe,' 'Antiques,' November, 1996, ill. p. 679.
ed. Professor Brian Harrison, "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography." Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. vol 58 p. 212, ill.
Derrick R. Cartwright, "Benjamin West: Allegory and Allegiance." Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2004, ill.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "The Baltimore Museum of Art: Celebrating a Museum." Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014.
Rather,Susan "The American School: Artists and Status in the Late Colonial and Early National Era." New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016, ill. p. 128
On View at the BMA
