Benjamin West : 80 Drawings

Benjamin West was a British and American painter of historical pictures around the time of the American War of Independence, the president of the Royal Academy in London and the first American artist to achieve an international reputation. When West visited England in 1763, his paintings caused a sensation. He soon became England's leading neoclassical painter. In 1771, defying precedent, he depicted recent history in modern dress rather than in ancient costume in a painting widely regarded...