The Artist and His Family

Benjamin West, 1738–1820

ca. 1772

Oil on canvas

Yale Center for British Art

A family group portrait shows six individuals in an interior setting. A woman in white cradles a baby, while a young boy stands to her left. Three men are seated, and one man stands to the right, holding a palette. In 1760, Benjamin West left Springfield in the Pennsylvania Colony for Italy, determined to improve his artistic education through exposure to the art of antiquity and the Italian Renaissance. Three years later he settled in London, where he quickly established himself as the leading history painter and a favorite of King George III. Despite its modest size, this painting is a profound meditation on West’s own cosmopolitan identity. Standing to the right, West is dressed in a luxurious lilac mantle, palette in hand. Betsy, his American-born wife, sits in the window with their two sons; the newborn was a godson to Benjamin Franklin.