Teaching the American Revolution with Benjamin West

[John Lee]

History paintings offer history teachers and students a unique opportunity to use art as a primary text. Here we will explore two paintings from Benjamin West.

Benjamin West was a late 18th / early 19th century painter who specialized in the popular 18th century artistic genre of history painting. Although the practice of painting historical scenes has been a part of artistic painting traditions for as long as people have painted, the approach became particularly popular in the late 18th century (see http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/h/historypainting.html).

West's historical paintings ranged from the 1760s to his death in 1820. Some of West's earliest historical work were a series of engravings that appeared in a book by William Smith titled "An historical account of the expedition against the Ohio Indians, i...." The engravings are available online from Luna Commons

Plate 1 The Indians giving a Talk to Colonel Bouquet in a Conference at a C...
Plate 2 The Indians delivering up the English Captives to Colonel Bouquet n...

West's most famous historical painting was completed in 1770 and depicts British General Jame Wolfe's death.

"Wolfe died in 1759 while leading the British invasion of Quebec City during the Seven Years War. His status as a British hero suggested a certain a classical treatment in any depiction of his death, but casting aside tradition West depicted General Wolfe and those around him is conditions that reflected the moment, an almost arch-classical rendering. The ironies of West painting are important. King George III, despite his admiration of West as a portrait painter (West twice painted the King) initially rejected the The Death of General Wolfe after a copy was made for him by west in 1771. George III and other critics eventually came to accept West new treatment. The king even appointed West historical painter to his court in 1772. Later West would become the president of the prestigious royal Academy for the Arts, an art institution founded by King George III in 1768 or which West was a charter member (from my companion posting The King's Painter: Art, History, and Benjamin West on Learn Digital History).

An analysis of this painting offers students many opportunities to examine complexities in the the relationships between American colonists and the British. We might start by asking students to try and identify the people in West photo. Obviously, General Wolfe is in the center, but who are the other characters? What is the symbolism in West's inclusion of a Native American? In a 1772 West painted Penn's Treaty with the Indians. The painting depicted 1701 peace negotiations between William Penn and Lenni Lenape Indians (also known as the Delaware). More on artistic representations of this event from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania at Imagining William Penn and the Indians.

Like the General Wolfe painting, West aims for a realist portrayal. This time though his subjects are colonial. What differences do we see in this painting when compared to the West photo?