The Artist's Wife, Elizabeth Shewell, Mrs Benjamin West (1741-1814) and their Son Raphael Lamar West (1769-1850)
Benjamin West (Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 1738 - London 1820)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1770
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
740 x 615 mm
Order this imageCollection
Blickling Hall, Norfolk
NT 355529
Caption
The artist left America in 1760, and after visiting Italy, settled in England in 1763. He was followed shortly afterwards by his fiancée, Elizabeth Shewell, whom he married in 1765. Their son, Raphael, who is depicted here, was their eldest child. He adopted his father’s profession, but was reported to have ‘more talent than industry.’ The composition of this portrait is derived from Raphael’s ‘Madonna della Sedia’, of which West owned a copy. His son appears older than the age of one, possibly because the artist’s reliance on the prototype led him to exaggerate his age.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Artist's Wife, Elizabeth Shewell, Mrs Benjamin West (1741-1814) and their Son Raphael Lamar West (1769-1850) by Benjamin West PRA (Swarthmore 1738 - London 1820), circa 1770. A painted oval head-and-shoulders portrait, the lady in a maroon dress and headwear with green drapery, holding a child in a white dress.
Provenance
Bequeathed with the hall and contents by Philip,11th Marquess of Lothian (1882-1940)
Credit line
Blickling Hall, The Lothian Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Benjamin West (Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 1738 - London 1820)