Art History 406 - Term Paper Example

American art of this time depicted nothing more from its paintings but of merchants and planters in a style rooted in European traditions. From the ashes of the war rose two great American painters. Benjamin West was born on October 10, 1738 of Quaker parents in Springfield (now Swarthmore) in the Pennsylvania colony. His talent for painting was developed when as a kid he learned to draw from paints given to him by his Indian friends. At the time there were no art schools or reputable masters with a great collection of paintings for young artists to study, but by the mid-1750s West began to paint portraits in and around Philadelphia (Craven, 2003, p.136). While in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1756, Wests patron, William Henry, a gunsmith, encouraged him to design a "Death of Socrates" based on an engraving in Charles Rollins Ancient History.

The painting has been called "the most ambitious and interesting painting produced in colonial America" (Staley, 1989, p. 28). Dr. William Smith, the provost of the College of Philadelphia, after seeing the painting in Henrys house, offered West education and introduced him to wealthy Pennsylvanians and politicians. During this time West met the famous painter, John Wollaston, an immigrant from London who taught him techniques for painting the shimmer of silk and satin (Hughes, 1999, p. 68). In 1759 West went to Rome, where he spent three years studying the Renaissance and Baroque masters and ancient masterpieces.

There he took time to sketch art works like Roman reliefs, more particularly those the Royal Academy with Sir Joshua Reynolds, its first president. Between 1772 and 1801, he was historical painter to King George III. West became one of the first American artists to win a wide reputation in Europe for Agripinna. In the picture, the group forming the center is based on an