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Self-Portrait
Benjamin West (born Springfield, PA 1738-died London, England 1820)
1819
- Medium
- oil on paperboard
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- 32 3/8 x 25 5/8 in. (82.2 x 65.0 cm.)
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Capitol
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Smithsonian Institution
About this work
Six months before he died, West looked unflinchingly into the mirror to paint his self-portrait. He holds a drawing pencil and wears a painter's robe and beaver hat, which identify him as a founder and president of the Royal Academy of Art. The light is strongest on his face and hands, but the rest of the picture falls into shadow, as if he foresaw his own end. West was official painter to the King of England and the first American artist to gain an international reputation. His example led generations of American artists to measure their art and professional identities by European standards.Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006
