COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
CMA_.1927.393
AMICA Library Year:
1999
Object Type:
Paintings
Creator Name:
West, Benjamin
Creator Nationality:
North American; American
Creator Role:
artist
Creator Dates/Places:
1738 - 1820
Gender:
M
Creator Name-CRT:
Benjamin West
Title:
Mrs. West with Raphael West
Title Type:
Primary
View:
Full View
Creation Date:
c. 1770
Creation Start Date:
1765
Creation End Date:
1775
Materials and Techniques:
oil on canvas
Dimensions:
Unframed: 66.5cm x 66.3cm
AMICA Contributor:
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Owner Location:
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
ID Number:
1927.393
Credit Line:
The Charles W. Harkness Gift
Provenance:
West family. Castle Smith, London (1909). Henry Pfungst, London. (Knoedler). Charles Harkness, New York. Mary Warden Harkness. Edward S. Harkness.
Context:
West so admired the artistic ideals associated with the Italian Renaissance master Raphael that he both named his eldest son after him and imitated Raphael's celebrated Madonna of the Chair when composing this tender double portrait of his wife and child. With this allusion, West not only declared a kinship with great painters of the past, but also implied that Mrs. West shared with the Virgin Mary such qualities as chastity and modesty. This is one of at least five versions of this composition, one ofwhich West exhibited in 1770 at the newly founded, prestigious English Royal Academy.
Related Image Identifier Link:
CMA_.1927.393.tif
