Benjamin West, P.R.A. (Springfield 1738-1820 London)
Benjamin West, P.R.A. (Springfield 1738-1820 London)

'The First Interview of Telemachus with Calypso'

Details
Benjamin West, P.R.A. (Springfield 1738-1820 London)
'The First Interview of Telemachus with Calypso'
signed and dated 'B. West/1801' (lower right)
oil on canvas
40¼ x 56 3/8 in. (102.3 X 143.2 cm.)
Provenance
London, The European Museum, 1819, when bought back by the artist for £300.
The artist's sale, Robins, 22-25 May 1829, lot 40 as 'Telemachus and Mentor on the island of Calypso' (280 gns. to Ward).
William Ward, on behalf of West's heirs.
Benjamin West Junior.
Mrs Albert F. West; Christie's, London, 18-19 March 1898, lot 145 (11 gns. to Sampson).
James J. Hill, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Given by the family of Louis W. Hill to Saint Paul Gallery and School of Art.
The Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1958.
Myron Kunin, Minneapolis, 1979.
Anonymous sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 25 April 1980, lot 2.
Arden, New York.
Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, 15 December 1993, lot 38.
Literature
J. Galt, 'A Catalogue of the Works of Benjamin West', in The Life Studies and Works of Benjamin West Esq..., 1820, II, p. 229.
J. Dillenberger, Benjamin West: The Context of his Life and Work, San Antonio, 1977, p. 175, no. 368, pp. 195, 198, 204, 237.
H. von Erffa and A. Staley, The Paintings of Benjamin West, New Haven and London, 1986, no. 181, p. 117, illustrated.
Exhibited
London, Royal Academy, 1801, no. 198.
London, The European Museum, 1819, no. 498.
London, West's Gallery, 1822-8, no. 54.
London, Egyptian Hall, 1839.
Duluth, Minnesota, University of Minnesota, Tweed Gallery, Dedicatory Exhibition, 1965, no. 5.
Easton, Pennsyvania, Lafayette College, Nineteenth Century American Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. George J. Arden, 1983.

Lot Essay

Benjamin West painted this subject five times but the only other known surviving version is that in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (see von Erffa and Staley, op. cit., no. 183). West first treated the subject circa 1772, a composition only known from the 1824 engraving published by Hurst and Robinson. This painting was last recorded in the 1830s in the collection of James Dunlop.

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