Page:Cyclopedia of painters and paintings (IA cyclopediaofpain04cham).pdf/445

Philadelphia as a portrait painter; thence removed to New York, and in 1760 went to Italy, where he remained, studying the antique and Michelangelo, until 1763, when he settled in London. His pictures of Agrippina bringing Home the Ashes of Germanicus, painted for the Archbishop of York, and the Departure of Regulus, bought by George III., won him royal patronage and favour, which he long enjoyed. From 1769 to 1801, during which time he received all orders from the king, who made him his historical painter (1772), West gained £34,187. The seven pictures illustrating Revealed Religion, which he painted for the Oratory at Windsor, brought him in £20,705, and his many portraits of members of the royal family were also highly remunerative. In the Death of General Wolfe (1771), now in Grosvenor House, and Penn's Treaty with the Indians, West had the courage to protest successfully against the treatment of modern subjects in classic garb, according to the fashion of the time. On the death of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1792) West succeeded him as president of the Royal Academy, of which he had been one of the founders in 1768, and, with the exception of a few months, held that office until 1815. The 400 historical and religious pictures which he painted show skill in composition and considerable inventive power, but they have no real vitality. Tame in style, poor in imagination, monotonous in colour, they ceased to interest the public when the painter disappeared from view. Among the most important of his works are: Christ healing the Sick (1802), National Gallery, which he painted for the Quaker Hospital in Philadelphia, and sold to the British Institution for £3,000, sending a copy to America; Death on the Pale Horse, Pennsylvania Academy; King Lear, Boston Museum of Fine Arts; and Raising of Lazarus, Winchester Cathedral. Seventeen of his pictures are at Hampton Court; among them the Death of Chevalier Bayard, and the Death of Epaminondas, both painted in 1771, as companion pieces to the Death of Wolfe. Alexander the Great and his Physician is called by Waagen one of his best pictures. Many of his works were engraved.—Galt, Life (London, 1820); Cunningham; Redgrave, Century, i. 186; F. de Conches, 277; Ch. Blanc, École anglaise; Waagen, Treasures; Law, Hist. Cat. Hampton Court, 100; Art Journal (1863), 218; Sandby, i. 290; Portfolio (1873), 150.

WESTALL, RICHARD, born at Hertford in 1765, died in London, Dec. 4, 1836. Subject and landscape painter; entered Academy schools, London, in 1785; elected an A.R.A. in 1792, and R.A. in 1794; painted in oil and in water-colours, and claimed to be one of the founders of the latter method. His book illustrations were very popular. Late in life he was drawing master to the Princess Victoria. Works: Cassandra (1797), South Kensington Museum; Esau, Sappho, Mary Stuart going to Execution, Elijah, Christ crowned with Thorns (altarpiece at All Souls' Church, London). His brother William (1781-1850) was an A.R.A., and painted in both oil and water-colours. His illustrated publications contained his best work.—Redgrave; Sandby, i. 306.

WET, JACOB DE, flourished at Haarlem about 1636-71. Dutch school; history and genre painter, imitator of Rembrandt; was established at Haarlem as early as 1636, dean of the guild in 1661, and still living in 1671. Works: Girl with a Peach, Haarlem Museum; Adoration of the Lamb (1647), Copenhagen Gallery; Expulsion of Hagar, Old Pinakothek, Munich; The Men in the Fiery Furnace, Schleissheim Gallery.—Kramm, vi. 1845; Schlie, 694; Van der Willigen, 324.