Telemachus and Calypso
Benjamin West
c. 1809
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 104.1 × 149.2 cm (41 × 58 3/4 in.) framed: 125.73 × 149.23 cm (49 1/2 × 58 3/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of Bernice West Beyers)
Accession Number
2015.19.98
About the Artist
Benjamin West · 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...