ORIGINAL.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF BENJAMIN WEST, ESQ. PRESIDENȚ of

THE ROYAL ACADEMY Of London

BENJAMIN WEST, was born, in the year 1738 at Springfield, Chester county, in the state of Pennsylvania; his ancestors, who were of a respectable English family, accompanied William Penn to this country in the year 1681.

In 1714, Mr. John West joined his relations in Pennsylvania where he married; and the subject of the present memoir is the youngest of his ten children. Mr. B. West's love of painting showed itself at an early age: at sixteen he became a painter by profession, and at twenty-one, the produce of his industry enabled him to gratify his desire of visiting Italy, the great depository of the master-pieces of ancient and modern art.

In the year 1760 he sailed from Philadelphia to Leghorn; from whence he proceeded to Rome; a city still majestic in its ruins, and which has thrice, we may say, given laws to the world;-first by force of arms, next by the terrors of superstition, and lastly by the influence of the fine arts. Here he became acquainted with Raphael Minges, Pompio Battoni, and other celebrated artists who procured him an introduction to all that was excellent in the arts in the once imperial city.

The sudden change from America, where he saw no productions of the pencil but those of an inferior order, to that scat of arts and taste, made, it is said, so forcible an impression upon his feelings as to injure his health. His mind was overheated by enthusiasm, and he was oppressed at once by the novelty and grandeur of the sublime objects he beheld. By the advice of his physician he withdrew to Leghorn, where relaxation, friendly society, and sea-bathing soon enabled him to return to Rome, and resume his studies. But he was

again compelled to suspend them, owing to the loss of health. The air of Leghorn again restored him, after which he proceeded to Florence, where he recommenced his professional studies with increased ardour. A third time he was arrested in their progress by an illness which confined him upwards of six months. But the love of his art, and the desire of excelling in it, triumphed over bodily pain. He had a frame constructed to enable him to draw when obliged to keep his bed, and in that situation he would amuse himself by painting several ideal pictures. When he was sufficiently recovered to bear removal, his youth and a good constitution soon completed the restoration of his health. He then travelled to Bologna, Parma, Mantua, Verona and Venice, where he viewed and admired the chief works of Caracci, Corregio, Julio Romano, Titian, and the other celebrated masters of the Venetian and Lombard schools. After completing a tour which invigorated his constitution and enriched his mind, he returned to Rome, having been absent from that city more than twelve months.

He painted about this time his Cimon and Iphigenia, and Angelica and Madora; works which the artists as well as the connoisseurs viewed with complacency. But the assiduity with which he pursued his profession again made ravages on his health. He determined therefore on quitting Italy, and visiting the native country of his ancestors. He passed through Genoa, Turin, and Paris, carefully examining the best productions of art which those cities then possessed. In August 1763 he arrived in London.

He now determined on taking a survey of the state of the arts in England: and for this purpose he visited Oxford, Blenheim, Bath, Fonthill, Windsor, and Hampton-court, and viewed the best collections of pictures in those places. Having completed this excursion, it was the intention of Mr. West to return to his native country, there to practice his profession with all the advantages he had acquired. Fortunately for himself this design was abandoned; and he fixed upon Eng

land as the theatre for the display of his talents. The fine arts which had long been languishing in that country, received at length some notice and encouragement from its sovereign. The nobility and gentry followed his example, and even the mercantile class, and the political economists began to think that pictures and engravings might be made profitable articles of traffic.

In April 1764, an exhibition of painting and sculpture was presented to the British public at Spring-gardens, in London. West sent thither the pictures painted by him at Rome, which were favourably received. In the course of that year he married an amiable American lady with whom, previous to his departure from Philadelphia he had contracted an affection.

In the year 1765, the artists who had united to form an exhibition of their works at Spring-gardens, were incorporated. West was chosen a member, and soon after, appointed one of the directors of their society. He drew at their academy in St. Martin's Lane, and became one of their constant exhibitors, till the opening of the exhibition of the royal academy, which was established in London in the year 1768, under the patronage of the British king.-Mr. West had been named by his majesty as one of the four artists to lay before him the plan of the institution. The plan they presented was approved of, and the king directed the deputation to take every measure in their power for forming the establishment. Previous to this event Mr. West had been favourably introduced to his majesty by the archbishop of York, for whom our artist had painted his celebrated picture of Agrippina landing at Brundusium with the ashes of Germanicus. This work pleased his majesty so much that he engaged Mr. West to paint for him the picture of Regulus, which was exhibited on the opening of the royal academy in 1769. It is remarkable that from the exhibition in Spring-gardens in 1764, to the present time, Mr. West has not omitted a single year to present some of his works to the view of the public. His indus

try has indeed been astonishing. A mere catalogue of his works, would fill ten pages of this journal, and when the number, size, and extent of their composition in figures are considered, they will be found to constitute a whole, which as proceeding from the pencil of a single artist, has no parallel in the history of painting. But West may claim a much higher merit than that of talents or industry. He is one of those artists whose pencil has been always guided by the sacred laws of morality. His talents were never prostituted to inflame those desires which require restraints rather than stimulants or allurements. The artist never sought for fame or profit at the expense of the character of the man. His favourite pictures—such as Wolfe, Regulus, Penn, Aggripinarepresent heroic patriotism, the invincible love of justice, inviolable conjugal attachment, and generally those actions and affections which display human nature in its utmost purity or exaltation.

While his example tended to reform the licentious abuses of his art, it also contributed powerfully to overcome the absurd and humiliating prejudice which had so long prevailed, that modern dresses were unsuitable for figures of which dignity was the chief characteristic. Every thing heroic in human nature seemed so inseparably associated in men's minds with their recollections of ancient Greece and Rome, that, it appeared ridiculous to represent a hero in any other habiliments than the costume of those renowned nations; and yet by a strange and unaccountable caprice of public taste, while the modern statesman and warrior were exhibited on canvas or in marble in the flowing robes of antiquity, on the theatre Brutus and Cato appeared in full bottomed wigs, and Octavia and Cleopatra with fashionable hoops and well-powdered toupees. Over this prejudice, West's pictures of Wolf and Penn were triumphant. Their success compelled all to acknowledge that the dress of a picture has not such a powerful influence as it was supposed to possess: it may add to the picturesque and be made highly ornamental; but it is the countenance- the hu

man face divine'-which marks the character and displays the energies of the soul. This innovation was generally approved of; and no painter of eminence now ventures to dress his figures in a picture contrary to the costume of the age and country in which the event he delineates took place.

In the autumn of the year 1802, Mr. West went to Paris to visit the superb collection of pictures and statues which the victories of France had placed in her capital. He was recommended to the principal persons there by his distinguished friends and patrons in London, and his reception was every way worthy of his talents and character. The artists showed him the most respectful attentions. The following letter of invitation to dine with them at their quarterly festival deserves to be recorded:

Paris, 3d Vendemiaire 11th year. The administration of the central Museum of Arts to Benjamin West, esq. president of the royal academy of London.

"SIR,

"The administration of the central museum of arts is in the habit of enjoying a friendly banquet at the beginning of every quarter of the year, and Thursday next is the day appointed for their customary meeting.

"Eminent artists, like you, sir, find their own country in every element, and glory as constantly assigns them a place where good artists are re-united.

"The administration invites you, therefore, to come and fill that place which belongs to you at their banquet. It reflects with complacency that, in possessing you in its bosom, it will be the interpreter of the esteem which it has for your talents, and that it will honour in your person celebrated men who in arts and sciences constitute the ornament of your country.

"Receive, by anticipation, sir, the assurance of our profound veneration, and of our sincere esteem.

(Signed)

"FOUBERT, administrator.

"LAVALLE, secretary of the museum."

At the conclusion of the entertainment, Lavalle, the father of the secretary, recited an elegant poem which he had