Colonial and Revolutionary America

Visual Art

Benjamin West1738- 1820Born on Oct. 10, 1738, of Quaker parents in Springfield (now Swarthmore) in the Pennsylvania colonyFor a time West studied in Philadelphia and New York City.He went to Italy for three years of study. American-born painter of historical, religious, and mythological subjectsHe had a profound influence on the development of historical painting in Britain.

West abandoned the tradition of painting people in Greek and Roman dress, the first major artist working in England to do so.In 1763 he went to England and remained there for life.Known in London as "the American Raphael,” King George III commissioned him to paint several pictures, and in 1772 he appointed West historical painter to the king.West was made a charter member of the Royal Academy, he became president in 1792.

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The Death of General Wolfe

Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky

King Lear in the Storm

Omnia Vincit Amor

Pylades and Orestes Brought as Victims before Iphigenia

The Battle of La Hogue

The Burghers of Calais

The Treaty of Penn with the Indians

John Singleton Copley1730-1815American painter, born presumably in Boston, MassachusettsHe is famous for his portrait paintings of important figures in colonial New England, depicting in particular middle-class subjects.His paintings were innovative in their tendency to depict artifacts relating to these individuals' lives.

Copley was started as a professional portrait-painter long before he was of ageCopley was a pioneer American pastellistCopley's fame was established in England by the exhibition, in 1766, of The Boy with the Squirrel, which made the young Boston painter a Fellow of the Society of Artists of Great BritainIn 1774 he took a European tour where he studied art and made important acquaintances. Copley's adventures in historical painting were the more successful because of his painstaking efforts to obtain good likenesses of personages and correct accessories of their periods. Member of the Royal AcademyHe was very popular and successful during his time, but towards the end of his life his life took a downward path with depression and debt.

Boy with a Squirrel (or Henry Pelham)

Paul Revere 1768-70

Watson and the Shark, 1782

Mrs. Joseph Mann (Bethia Torrey) 1753

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Mifflin (Sarah Morris)

The Ascension

Mrs. Thomas Boylston, 1766

Robert Feke1740sborn in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York.American Colonial portrait painter. Nothing is known of his life until 1741 His paintings are known for their sobriety and uniformity, but also for their rich colors and accuracy.Sixteen portraits in total are known to be by Feke, and an additional 50 are disputed to be by him.Feke worked in Boston, painting wealthy merchants and landowners, from 1741 until 1750, when he disappeared.

Portrait of Charles Apthorp, 1748

Portrait of Brigadier General Samuel Waldo 1750

Mrs. Isaac Winslow

Young Benjamin Franklin 1748

Portrait of a Woman

Ralph Earl1751-1801American painter known for his portraits, of which at least 183 can be documented.He also painted six landscapesborn in either Shrewsbury or Leicester, MassachusettsEarl was self-taughtRalph Earl himself was a Loyalist.In 1778, he left behind his wife and daughter and escaped to EnglandIn London, he entered the studio of Benjamin West, and painted the king and many notables.In 1785 or 1786, Earl returned to the United States with his new wife., where he was very successfulIn September 1786,, Earl was imprisoned for failing to pay his personal debts.He died in Bolton, Connecticut, on August 16, 1801. Alcoholism is believed to be the main cause of death.

collaboration with the engraver Amos Doolittle, he drew four battle scenes that were made into pro-Revolutionary propaganda prints.

Elijah Boardman, 1789

portrait of Oliver and Abigail Ellsworth

portrait of Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, circa 1787