Benjamin West

Benjamin West was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania. He is one of the first internationally renowned American artists. In his American homeland he initially painted mainly portraits. When his patron William Allen financed a trip to Italy for him, he was able to visit Rome in 1760 and copied paintings of Tizian and Raffael. In 1763 he settled in London, where he became a founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts. After the death of the first president, he presided over the Academy until the end of his life.

West is one of the earliest painters of classicist history paintings. When his painting "The Death of General James Wolfe in Quebec" was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1771, it caused a sensation and an unprecedented influx of visitors. Soon copies of the painting were sold in large numbers in the form of engravings. Instead of antiquating the 1759 scene depicted by means of vestments and poses, as contemporaries advised him, West transposed the historical circumstances into his painting in an accurately documented manner. He called this technique, which he also continued in "Death of Nelson" and "William Penn's Treaty with the Indians in November 1683", an "epic representation".

West was commissioned with portraits of the British royal family, received an annual salary of £1000 as the official history painter of the royal house and managed the royal collection of paintings until his death in 1820.