BENJAMIN WEST, Esa. PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY, &c. We believe it may be safely asserted that among all the subjects of modern biography no man could be selected, whose life presents a fairer field for observation, study, and imitation, than that of the president of the Royal Academy, of whose movements for almost half a century in his profession, and of whose general tract of study and peculiarities of professional character we have undertaken to give a concise and accurate sketch. However the arts may have drooped from discouragement, or the want of genius among our painters, in England, as well as in the other countries of Europe, it is some satisfaction that the present age has used every effort to revive and reward them, and that among their patrons the name of his present Majesty stands most distinguished. In a nation of commerce like this, the arts may be expected to make an article of traffic, when they are not regarded by the nation He was appointed a lieutenant in 1760. A master and commander in 1762, A captain, May 19, 1766. A rear-admiral, February 1, 1793, A vice-admiral, July 4, 1794. And an admiral of the blue, of which he is now the first on the list, February 4, 1799: In addition to this, he is a major-general of marines. He was ennobled December 27, 1800, by the stile and title of Alan Gardner, Baron Gardner, of Uttoxeter, in the kingdom of Ireland, itself as subjects of taste and admiration; as Mummius was willing to export what he could neither value nor understand. In a word, having so long rivalled Europe in every other branch of commerce, it is to the genius and industry of our national painters that we have been able to maintain the competition in this; and it will undoubtedly be recorded to the honour of our present race of artists, that they have opened a new source of commerce to the mother country, and that the English are now as well known on the continent by their paintings as by their broad cloth. Benjamin West, Esq. was born in the year 1738, at Springfield, Chester county, Pennsylvania, in Amcrica. His ancestors were a branch of the West family who were distinguished in the wars of Edward III. In the reign of Richard II. they settled at Long Cranden, in Buckinghamshire, where they resided till about the year 1667, at which period they embraced the quaker principles, which were then in the infancy of propagation. It is believed that the first of the family who adopted quakerism was a Colonel James West, an officer much distinguished in the battle of Worcester, and by his attachment to the republican party which at that time prevailed over the monarchy. A letter from the celebrated Hampden to this gentleman is still upon record.* In the year 1609 the greater part of the family removed with William Penn into Pennsylvania, on his second visit to that province; and his grandfather and grandmother (on his mother's side) accompanied that See Seward's Anecdotes. great great and benevolent man in the first visit he made to that new country in the year 1681. In the year 1714 Mr. John West joined his brothers and relations in Pennsylvania, where he married, and the present Mr. West is the youngest son of ten children which he raised in that country. Mr. West's love for painting shewed itself at an early age, and at sixteen, with the consent of his parents and friends, he embraced it as a profession. In the town of Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, and the cities of Philadelphia and New York, he painted many portraits, and several historical pictures, with considerable success, till he attained the age of twenty-one, when the produce of his industry, and the predominant desire of acquiring excellence in historical painting, carried him to Italy, the great depositary of the ancient and modern arts, and the most favourable school for genius. In the year 1760 Mr. West left the city of Philadelphia and embarked for Leghorn. War was then raging between England and France, and the ship in which he sailed stopped at Gibraltar, till a proper force could be appointed to convoy it to the place of its destination. The first in command to that convoy was Captain Meadows, of the Shannon frigate, who, during the passage to Leghorn, rendered Mr. West and two of his companions* every attention which the civility and politeness of a gentleman could bestow, and which laid the foundation of that friendship * The names of these two gentlemen were, a Mr. Allen, eldest son of the chief judge of Pennsylvania,and Colonel Joseph Shippen, likewise a native of Philadelphia. which has subsisted ever since between Mr. West and Captain Meadows, now Lord Newark. From Leghorn Mr. West proceeded to Rome. From the house of Messrs. Jackson and Rutherford, of the factory of Leghorn, he procured recommendations to Cardinal Albani, and others of high distinction in that city. Through this recommendation he was introduced to Raphael Minges, Pompio Battoni, and most of the celebrated artists in Rome; and was yet more fortunate in the intimacy he formed with Mr. Wilcox, the author of the much esteemed Roman Conversations. The kindness of this gentleman, and that of the late Lord Grantham, then Mr. Robin. son, procured him an introduction to all that was excellent in the arts, both of the ancient and modern school; and the distinguished taste of those liberal and enlightened men, united to their known classical information, laid the foundation in the mind of Mr. West, on his first entrance into the seat of his profession, of that sublime and philosophical taste which has enabled him to enrich England with the various productions of his pencil. The sudden change from the cities of America, where he saw no productions but a few English portraits, and those which had sprung from his own pencil, to the city of Rome, the seat of arts and taste, made so forcible an impression upon his feelings as materially to affect his health. The enthusiasm of his mind was heated with what he beheld, and oppressed at once by novelty and grandeur, the springs of health were weakened, and he was under the neces s.ty sity of withdrawing from Rome in a few weeks, by the advice of his physician, or the consequence might have been fatal to his life. Mr. West returned to Leghorn, and was received into the friendly protection of Messrs. Jackson and Rutherford, in whose house he remained several months. He experienced likewise the most flattering attention from the English consul and his lady, Mr. and Mrs. Dick, since Sir John Dick, and was received with distinguished hospitality by the governors of the place, and others of the Italians. His mind was thus relaxed by friendly intimacy and society, which, together with sea-bathing, restored bim to health and to the prosecution of his studies in Rome. He here fixed his mind upon the most glorious productions of ancient and modern art, and the works of Michael Angelo, Raphael, and Poussin engaged most of his attention; but he was again compelled to withdraw from his studies, owing to the loss of health, and to return to his friends at Leghorn. The air and soeiety of this place again restored him, and by the advice of those in whom he most confided, he proceeded to Florence instead of Rome. He here recommenced his studies with encreased ardour in the galleries and the palace Pietie, and was a third time arrested in his progress, and relapsed into an illness which confined him more than six months to his bed and room, during which time he was under the necessity of submitting to a surgical operation in one of his ancles, where the fever had settled. In this delicate operation Mr. West was greatly indebted to the skill and attention |