Benjamin West's First Effort in Art, from "Illustrated London News"
May 12, 1849
Medium
Wood engraving
Dimensions
Image: 6 9/16 × 8 1/8 in. (16.6 × 20.7 cm) Sheet: 7 in. × 8 3/8 in. (17.8 × 21.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Donato Esposito, 2015
Accession Number
2015.653.26
Tags
About the Artist
Benjamin West|Edward Matthew Ward · 1738–1820
Benjamin West, born on October 10, 1738, in Springfield, Pennsylvania, emerged as one of the most influential painters of his era despite being entirely self-taught. Growing up in a Quaker family in colonial America, West displayed prodigious talent from childhood, creating portraits and religious scenes with materials gifted by local patrons. By his late teens, he had garnered enough support to t...