Artwork Details
26-1/2 x 35 in. (canvas) 35-1/2 x 43 -1/4 x 3-1/4 in. (framed)
Mark DescriptionSigned and dated in brown paint at lower right: B. West . 1795
Accession NumberGift of Mrs. Nicholas H. Noyes
CopyrightAmerican Painting and Sculpture Before 1800
Color PaletteEstate of Benjamin West; sale at (George Robins, London) in 1829;{1} purchased by Egerton (possibly Wilbraham Egerton of Tatton Park, Cheshire, England).{2} (Newhouse Galleries, New York) in 1950; Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas H. Noyes, Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1950; given to the John Herron Art Institute, now the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, in 1950. {1} George Robins, London, Historical Pictures, and other admired compositions: The works of the revered and highly-gifted painter, the late Benjamin West, Esq., 22-15, 1829, lot 152. {2} An annotated copy of the auction catalogue lists the buyer’s name as “Egerton;” see Helmut von Erffa and Allen Staley, The paintings of Benjamin West, New Haven and London, 1986, no. 474 (illustration)
Born in Pennsylvania, Benjamin West studied painting in Rome in his early twenties and moved to England in 1763, where he remained for the rest of his career. The setting for this landscape is the Queen's Lodge in the Great Park at Windsor, where woodcutters are shown making a clearing to provide a "view." Such vistas were an essential part of 18th-century English landscape design. The landscape was painted the same year West began work on a major cycle of decorations for the chapel at Windsor Castle.
Exhibition Name
Venue
Dates
Americans Abroad: Landscape and Artistic Exchange, 1800-1920
Tsinghua University Art Museum
September 20, 2018 - March 17, 2019
A Shared Heritage: Art by Four African Americans
Indianapolis Museum of Art
February 24, 1996 - April 2, 1996
The Beautiful, The Sublime, and The Picturesque
Washington University Art Gallery
February 18, 1984 - April 8, 1984
A Sale of Paintings and Drawings by the Late Benjamin West, Esquire, President of the Royal Academy
May 22, 1829 - May 29, 1829
Pictures and Drawings by the Late Benjamin West, Esquire, President of the Royal Academy
1826 - 1829
Pictures and Drawings by Benjamin West, Esquire, President of the Royal Academy
1823 - 1823
Life, Studies and Works of the Hon. Benjamin West, Esquire
1820 - 1820
1796 Exhibition of the Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts London
1796 - 1796
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