LOT DETAILS

Materials:

oil on canvas

Measurements:

54.25 in. (137.80 cm.) (height) by 56.26 in. (142.90 cm.) (width)

Markings:

signed and dated 'B. West 1808' (lower right)

Exhibited:

London, West's Gallery, 1822-1828, no. 73 or 132. Manchester, Art Treasures of the United Kingdom, 1857, no. 14. Leeds, National Exhibition of Works of Art, 1868, no. 1268. Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Early American Paintings, 5 December 1925-3 January 1926, no. 87. Baltimore, Baltimore Museum of Art, The Greek Tradition in Painting and Sculpture, 15 May-25 June 1939. Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Nude in American Painting, 9 October-December 1961, no. 2, pl. 4. Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art, Past and Present: 250 Years of American Art, 1966, unpublished checklist. Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art, The American Genius, 24 January-4 April 1976, catalogue with no checklist. National Collection of Fine Arts, 18 December 1970, on loan. Mexico, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, La Pintura de los Estados Unidos de museos de la ciudad de Washington D.C., 18 November 1980-4 January 1981, pp. 20, 44, 45, no. 2, illustrated. Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art, Figuratively Speaking: The Human Form in American Art, 1770-1950, 20 November 2004-23 May 2005, unpublished checklist.

Literature:

J. Barlow, 'Notes', The Columbiad: A Poem, Philadelphia, 1807, p. 399. 'A Correct Catalogue of the Works of Benjamin West', The Port Folio, New York and Philadelphia, December 1811, 3, VI, no. 6. American Art News, 26 March 1910. 'Uncle Sam Now the Proud Owner of a "Cupid and Psyche"', New York Herald, 27 March 1910, illustrated. 'Pictures by West', New York Herald, 27 March 1910. 'Pictures by West', Philadelphia Item, 24 May 1910. W. Tindall, Standard History of the City of Washington from a Study of the Original Sources, Knoxville, 1914, p. 485. The Greek tradition in Painting and the Minor Arts, exhibition catalogue, Baltimore, 1939(?), pp.23-24. A. Graves, 'West, Benjamin', A Century of Loan Exhibitions 1813-1912, New York, 1914, republished 1968, vol. 4. R. Quant, 'Conservation', Corcoran Gallery of Art Bulletin, November 1957, vol. 9, p. 7, no. 3. G. Evans, Benjamin West and the Taste of his Times, Carbondale, 1959, pp. 91-92, pl. 69. R. Rosenblum, 'Benjamin West's "Eagle Bringing the Cup of Water to Psyche": A Document of Romantic Classicism', Princeton Art Museum Record, 1960, vol. 19. The Nude in American Painting, Brooklyn, 1961, p. 2, pl. 4. J. Mellow, 'The Best in Art', Arts Yearbook, 1962, vol. 6, p. 74. J. Harithas, '250 Years of American Art', Apollo, July 1966, 84, pp. 69, 70, illustrated. D. Phillips, A Catalogue of the Collection of American Paintings in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 1966, I, p. 23. W. Gerdts, The Greatest American Nude, New York, 1974, pp. 2-4, illustrated, 31-32, illustrated. F. Getlein and J.A. Lewis, The Washington D.C. Art Review, New York, 1980, p. 11. 'México, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes', La Pintura de los Estados Unidos de museos de la ciudad de Washington D.C., 1980-81, pp. 20, 44-45, no. 2, illustrated. M. Brown, One Hundred Masterpieces of American Painting from Public Collections in Washington D.C., Washington D.C., 1983, pp. 42-43, illustrated. H. von Erffa and A. Staley, The Paintings of Benjamin West, New Haven, 1986, pp. 243, 269, illustrated. W. Vance, America's Rome, New Haven, 1989, vol. I, p. 217.

Provenance:

Offered by West's sons to the United States in 1826 (25) and sold by them; Christie's, London, 22-25 May 1829, lot 75 (85 gns. to John Hick). John Hick, Mytton Hall, Whalley, Lancashire; Christie's, London, 18 June 1909, lot 80, from where purchased by T. Permain, London (105 gns.) with T.J. Blakeslee, Blakeslee Galleries, New York. Purchased by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 28 February 1910.