LOT DETAILS

Materials:

oil on canvas

Measurements:

64.76 in. (164.50 cm.) (height) by 96.26 in. (244.50 cm.) (width)

Markings:

signed and dated 'B. West 1778. Retouched .1806.' (on the stern of the vessel, lower left)

Exhibited:

London, the artist's gallery, Great Room no. 69, 1785-1829. London, Royal Academy of Arts, Winter 1888, no. 154 (lent by Edward P. Monckton, Esq.) New York, James Graham and Sons, Benjamin West, 22 May-30 June 1962, no. 5. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Three Centuries of American Painting, 9 April-17 October 1965. New York, Bronx Council on the Arts, Paintings from the Metropolitan, 12 May-13 June 1971, no. 1.

Literature:

J. Trumbull, account book, in entries for 1784 and 1813, detailing his work on the painting (printed in T. Sizer, Yale University Library Gazette 22, 1948, pp. 121-22). J. Farington, Diary kept from 13 July 1793-30 December 1821, entries on 11 May and 8 July 1806, in J. Grieg ed., The Farington Diary, 1924, pp. 227, 272. 'A correct catalogue of the works of Benjamin West, Esq.', Portfolio 6, 1811, p. 548. J. Galt, The life, studies and works of Benjamin West (1816-1820), 1820, p. 220, p. 225. C. Smart, West's Gallery, 1823, p. 17, no. 69. W. Dunlap, History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States, 1834, I, p. 65. J. Trumbull, Autobiography, 1841, p. 92. L. Fagan, A catalogue raisonné of the engraved works of William Woollett, 1885, pp. 52-53. J. Trumbull, The autobiography of Colonel John Trumbull: Patriot-Artist, New Haven, 1953, p. 87. A. Gardner and S. Feld, American Paintings: A catalogue of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, painters born by 1815, New York, 1954, pp. 29-32. A.T. Gardner, Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin,, 24, March 1966, pp. 229, 236. H. von Erffa, American Art Journal I, Spring 1969, p. 28 (the composition is 'based on a painting by Langendyk'). A. Lehman, 'Benjamin West's Battle of La Hogue', 1971, unpublished MS in Department Archives. I. Jaffe, John Trumbull: Patriot-Artist of the American Revolution, Boston, 1975, pp. 70, 316, fig. 44, as 'a copy by Trumbull'. Kathryn Cave, ed., The Diary of Joseph Farington, New Haven and London, 1982, VII, p. 2757. H. von Erffa and A. Staley, The Paintings of Benjamin West, New Haven and London, 1986, pp. 102, 210, no. 91. J. Caldwell and O. Rodriguez Roque, American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: a catalogue of works by artists born by 1815, New York, 1994, I, pp. 69-73.

Provenance:

Offered by West to the Pennsylvania Academy in 1809. Offered by his sons, Raphael and Benjamin, to the United States in 1828; sold, George Robins, London, 22-25 May 1829, lot 101, from where purchased by The Hon. John Monckton, London, and Fineshade Abbey, Stamford, thence by descent to Edward P. Monckton, Fineshade Abbey, Northants., by 1888, thence by descent to Edward Philip Monckton, Fineshade Abbey, thence by descent to George Edward Monckton, Fineshade Abbey; Sotheby's, London, 10 February 1921, lot 3. with Sutton. with Sigmund Samuel, Toronto, by 1952. Leslie W. Lewis, Toronto. with Bradley Chapoton, Leamington, Ontario, by 1952/58. with Bernard Feldman, Philadelphia. with Victor D. Spark, New York. with James Graham and Sons, New York, 1958-64, from where purchased by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Sotheby's, New York, 26 January 2006, lot 52, ($632,000 to the present owner).