Mrs Benjamin West II with her son Benjamin West III

This strikingly modern portrait encompasses many of the hallmarks of American artist Benjamin West’s (1738–1820) Neoclassical style, combining classical compositions with figures in modern-day dress. Here, he provides a grand setting for a portrait that depicts his grandson, Benjamin West III (b. 1804/5), and daughter-in-law, Mary – Mrs Benjamin West II. A carefully constructed composition utilises shafts of colour to set the scene. A swathe of red silk set against a glimpse of dappled blue sky creates a dynamic backdrop, dividing the picture space along a defined diagonal path. The intense red contrasts with the purity of the lace cap and milky skin of the baby, his arm and gaze directing the viewer’s gaze to the mother’s face. The hands of the mother and child make tender connections, binding them in a continuous circle. West paints both his sitters clothed in the fashionable Empire-style, while their pose references Renaissance depictions of the Madonna and Child, most noticeably in the infant’s playful toes and the encircling embrace, with the bright shape of the rattle held in the baby’s hand in place of a rosary or cross. This personal portrait portrays a sense of love and familial pride not only between the sitters, but also between the sitters and the artist. The infant Benjamin’s toes direct the eye to his grandfather’s signature, ‘B. West’, on the arm of the chair. West had passed his name down to his son and grandson, immortalising their ancestry in this painting that remained in the West family for nearly a century.

Benjamin West’s individual style grew from a tendency to carve new paths from traditional beginnings. Born into a Quaker family in Pennsylvania in 1738, his talent for drawing was remarked upon at an early age. He began his career as a portraitist, first in Philadelphia and then New York, before heading to Rome in 1760. It was in Italy that West encountered and studied the Old Masters of the Renaissance and the statues of antiquity. Intending only a brief visit to Great Britain, he arrived in London in 1763 and never left. West was accepted at the British royal court and made his name as a history painter, breaking new ground in depicting recent battle scenes where the adversaries were shown in contemporary dress, something the then President of the Royal Academy, Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–92), advised West against, but which West ignored. His Neoclassical and Romantic style influenced other American artists, such as Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827) and John Singleton Copley (1738–1815), helping to effectively found what would become the American School on the other side of the Atlantic.