BENJAMIN WEST* (1738-1820)

Details

BENJAMIN WEST* (1738-1820)

The Angel of the Lord Announcing the Resurrection of the Marys

oil over pen and ink on paper laid down on panel
6½ x 8½in. (16.5 x 21.6cm.)

Provenance

Sale: Christie's, London, Nov. 19, 1982, no. 69
Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York
Sale: Barridoff Galleries, Portland, Maine

Literature

"A Correct Catalogue of the Works of Mrs. West," Public Characters of 1805, London, 1805, p. 565
"A Correct List of the Works of Mr. West," Universale Magazine, III, 1805, p. 530
"A Correct Catalogue of the Works of Benjamin West, Esq." La Belle Assemblee, IV, 1808, p. 17
J. Galt, "A Correct Catalogue of the Works of Mr. West", The Life, Studies, and Works by Benjamin West, Esq., President of the Royal Academy of London, London, 1820, p. 228
J. Dillenberger, Benjamin West: The Context of His Life's Work, San Antonio, Texas, 1977, p. 172, no. 328
H. von Erffa and A. Staley, The Paintings of Benjamin West, New Haven, Connecticut, 1986, p. 374, no. 378, illus.

Exhibited

London, England, Anthony Reed, British Drawing, 1984, no. 7
New York, Davis & Langdale Company, Inc., British Drawing, 1985, no. 59

Lot Essay

This painting was the subject for a stipple engraving, of similar size and identical composition that was executed by John Ogborne and published by T. Simpson and Darling & Thompson in 1797. West executed several variations on this general theme, among them the Brooklyn Museum's painting of the same title; a gouache of The Three Marys at the Tomb at the Butler Institute of American Art; and an ink drawing of The Three Marys at the Sepulchre in the collection of the Pierpont Morgan Library.

This painting will be included in Allen Staley's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the work of Benjamin West.