First Previous 5 OF 41 NextLast

Benjamin West

5 of 41 portraits of Benjamin West

© National Portrait Gallery, London

 Like voting
is closed

Thanks for Liking

Please Like other favourites!
If they inspire you please support our work.

Buy a print Buy a greetings card Make a donation

Benjamin West

by Gilbert Stuart
oil on canvas, 1785
35 1/2 in. x 27 1/2 in. (902 mm x 699 mm)
Purchased, 1872
Primary Collection
NPG 349

Sitterback to top

  • Benjamin West (1738-1820), History painter and President of the Royal Academy. Sitter associated with 43 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 39 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), Painter. Artist or producer associated with 61 portraits.

This portraitback to top

West attracted other visiting American artists like Gilbert Stuart who lodged with him as a pupil and assistant in 1775. In the background Stuart has shown West's vast Moses Receiving the Law (1784) unfinished on the easel.

Related worksback to top

Linked publicationsback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1785back to top

Current affairs

George Prince of Wales secretly marries his mistress Maria Fitzherbert in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772.
Prime Minister William Pitt introduces a bill proposing parliamentary reform and the abolition of 'rotten boroughs' but is defeated.

Art and science

William Cowper publishes his best -known poem The Task.
James Boswell publishes The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, narrating his travels with the late writer Samuel Johnson.
Physician and naturalist James Hutton presents his studies of local rocks to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, launching the era of scientific geology.

International

Warren Hastings resigns as Governor-General of Bengal and returns to England. His trial begins on charges of corruption in the administration of India.
French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon crosses the Atlantic to sculpt a statue of George Washington.
British government establishes a permanent land force in the Eastern Caribbean, based in Barbados.

Comments back to top

We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.

If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.