Benjamin West
Medium
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Milton and Ingrid Rose
Accession Number
NPG.96.136
Tags
Art Historical Context
This enchanting 1818 print, titled *Benjamin West* and created by English engraver Charles Heath (5–1848), the venerable American artist Benjamin West in a moment of quiet contemplation. West, a pioneering history painter and portraitist who became the second president of London's Royal Academy, is depicted seated in an armchair within an interior space that opens to an exterior view of a building. Subtle details like his eyeglasses, an open book, and a evoke his scholarly life as an influential art instructor, bridging Enlightenment ideals with emerging American identity. As a print from the...