The Life, Studies, and Works of Benjamin West, Esq. | Page 2

Peter Halket.--The Artist proposed afterwards
to paint a Picture of the Discovery of the Bones of the Halkets.--He
commences regularly as a Painter.--He copies a St. Ignatius.--He is
induced to attempt Historical Portraiture.--His Picture of the Trial of
Susannah.--Of the merits of that Picture.
Chap. V.
Motives which induced him to visit New York.--State of Society in
New York.--Reflections on the sterility of American
talent.--Considerations on the circumstances which tend to produce
Poetical feelings.--The causes which produced the peculiarities in the
state of Society in New York.--The Accident which led the Artist to
discover the method of colouring Candle-light and Fire effects after
Nature.--- He copies Strange's engraving of Belisarius, by Salvator
Rosa.--The occurrence which hastened his Voyage to Italy, with the
Anecdote of his obligations to Mr. Kelly.--Reflections on Plutarch,
occasioned by reference to the effect which his works had on the mind
of West.--The Artist embarks; occurrence at Gibraltar.--He arrives at
Leghorn.--Journey to Rome.
Chap. VI.
State of the stationary Society of Rome.--Causes which rendered the
City a delightful temporary residence.--Defects of the Academical
methods of study.--His introduction to Mr. Robinson.--Anecdote of
Cardinal Albani.--The Cardinal's method of finding Resemblances, and
curious mistake of the Italians.--The Artist's first visit to the Works of
Art.
Chap. VII.
Anecdote of a famous Improvisatore.--West the subject of one of his
finest effusions.--Anecdote of Cardinal Albani.--West introduced to
Mengs.--Satisfactory result of West's first essay in
Rome.--Consequence of the continual excitement which the Artist's
feelings endured.--He goes to Florence for advice.--He accompanies

Mr. Matthews in a tour.--Singular instance of liberality towards the
Artist from several Gentlemen of Philadelphia.
Chap. VIII.
The result of the Artist's experiment to discover the methods by which
Titian produced his splendid colouring.--He returns to Rome.
--Reflections suggested by inspecting the Egyptian Obelisk.
--Considerations of the Author on the same subject; an anecdote of a
Mohawk Indian who became an Actor at New York.--Anecdote of a
Scottish Fanatic who arrived in Rome to convert the Pope.--Sequel of
the Adventure.--The Artist prepares to visit England.--Having
completed his St. Jerome, after Corregio's famous picture, he is elected
an Honorary Member of the Academy of Parma, and invited to
Court.--He proceeds by the way of Genoa towards France.--Reflections
on the Stale of Italy.--Adventure on reaching the French
frontiers.--State of Taste in France.

The Life and Studies of Benjamin West

Chap. I.

The Birth and Paternal Ancestry of Mr. West.--His Maternal
Family.--His Father.--The Origin of the Abolition of Slavery by the
Quakers.--The Progress of the Abolition.--The Education of the
Negroes.--The Preaching of Edmund Peckover.--His Admonitory
Prediction to the Father of West.--The first Indication of Benjamin's
Genius.--State of Society in Pennsylvania.--The Indians give West the
Primary Colours.--The Artist's first Pencils.--The Present of a Box of
Colours and Engravings.--His first Painting.
Benjamin West, the subject of the following Memoirs, was the
youngest son of John West and Sarah Pearson, and was born near
Springfield, in Chester County, in the State of Pennsylvania, on the

10th of October, 1738.
The branch of the West family, to which he belongs, has been traced in
an unbroken series to the Lord Delawarre, who distinguished himself in
the great wars of King Edward the Third, and particularly at the battle
of Cressy, under the immediate command of the Black Prince. In the
reign of Richard the Second, the ancestors of Mr. West settled at Long
Crandon in Buckinghamshire. About the year 1667 they embraced the
tenets of the Quakers; and Colonel James West, the friend and
companion in arms of the celebrated Hampden, is said to have been the
first proselyte of the family. In 1699 they emigrated to America.
Thomas Pearson, the maternal grandfather of the Artist, was the
confidential friend of William Penn, and accompanied him to America.
On their first landing, the venerable Founder of the State of
Pennsylvania said to him, "Providence has brought us safely hither;
thou hast been the companion of my perils, what wilt thou that I should
call this place?" Mr, Pearson replied, that "since he had honoured him
so far as to desire him to give that part of the country a name, he would,
in remembrance of his native City, call it Chester." The exact spot
where these patriarchs of the new world first landed, is still pointed out
with reverence by the inhabitants. Mr. Pearson built a house and
formed a plantation in the neighbourhood, which he called Springfield,
in consequence of discovering a large spring of water in the first field
cleared for cultivation; and it was near this place that Benjamin West
was born.
When the West family emigrated, John, the father of Benjamin, was
left to complete his education at the great school of the Quakers at
Uxbridge, and did not join his relations in America till the year 1714.
Soon after his arrival he