Benjamin West's First Effort in Art, from "Illustrated London News"

May 12, 1849

Not on view

Clad in an 18th-century frock coat, a boy kneels by a cradle and uses a quill pen to sketch a sleeping baby. The setting is a well-appointed country house, with a carpet on the floor, table piled with food and vessels, a leather-bound volume, hour-glass and bow near the window, peacock-feather fan on the floor, and rural landscape glimpsed through an open door. The painter Edward Matthew Ward here imagines how Benjmin West, the talented son of an innkeeper in colonial Springfield (now Swarthmore, near Philadelphia), learned to draw (at twenty-two he would study in Rome, then settle in London, become painter to George III, and succeed Sir Joshua Reynolds as President of the Royal Academy). This wood-engraved version of the image appeared in the "Illustrated London News" in 1849.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

References

Title: Benjamin West's First Effort in Art, from "Illustrated London News"
Artist: After Edward Matthew Ward (British, London 1816–1879 Windsor)
Subject: Benjamin West (American, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 1738–1820 London)
Date: 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
Credit Line: Gift of Donato Esposito, 2015
Object Number: 2015.653.26
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.

Weymouth Bay, David Lucas British, Mezzotint on chine collé; proof before published state — Weymouth Bay
David Lucas
John Constable
1830

Basle, part I, plate 5 from "Liber Studiorum", Joseph Mallord William Turner British, Etching and mezzotint; first state of six (Finberg) — Basle, part I, plate 5 from "Liber Studiorum"
Multiple artists/makers
June 11, 1807

Lake of Thun, Swiss, part III, plate 15 from "Liber Studiorum", Joseph Mallord William Turner British, Etching, drypoint and mezzotint; first state of three — Lake of Thun, Swiss, part III, plate 15 from "Liber Studiorum"
Joseph Mallord William Turner
Charles Turner
June 10, 1808

The Waterworks at Marli, and St. German en Laye seen in the distance (La Machine de Marli, avec une vue eloignée de St. German en Laye), Thomas Girtin British, Soft-ground etching and aquatint — The Waterworks at Marli, and St. German en Laye seen in the distance (La Machine de Marli, avec une vue eloignée de St. German en Laye)
Multiple artists/makers
1803

Woman Bathing (La Toilette), Mary Cassatt American, Drypoint and aquatint, printed in color from three plates; fourth state of four (Mathews & Shapiro) — Woman Bathing (La Toilette)
Mary Cassatt
Monsieur LeRoy
1890–91

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.