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Allegory of Botany

Maker

(artist)
1738-1820

Title

Allegory of Botany

Date of Production

1788

Medium

black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown and blue wash on laid paper, the left edge extended by adding an extra strip of paper which is peppered with pinholes in vertical lines, and with three vertical graphite lines with several phinholes added along the right edge

Dimensions

Height: 36.8 cm
Width: 48.5 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.415

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Pruning

Label Text

This large allegorical drawing, which mimics the appearance of a sculptural relief, combines classical motifs with unusual elements, such as the exotic plants at
right. The American-born West, one of the founding members of the Royal Academy and its second president, was commissioned to provide designs for a series of thirteen panels to decorate the ceiling of the Queen’s Lodge at Windsor. Each painted panel represented a different branch of science or commerce; they were destroyed in 1823 and only West’s designs survive.

Notes

Preparatory for a series of 13 panels West designed to decorate the ceiling of the Drawing Room of the Queen's Lodge at Windsor. They were painted by a German artist named Haas in 1789 but were destroyed in 1823.

Provenance

Charles Fairfax Murray, London (1849-1919); his estate sale, Christie's (London), 30 January 1920, lot 231 (with 7 others); purchased there by F.R. Meatyard (London) (£8.4); Sotheby's (London), 7 May 1930, lot 119; purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952) (£4); Witt Bequest 1952

Literature

Erffa, Helmut von and Allen Staley, The paintings of Benjamin West, New Haven 1986
no. 435 on pp. 609-10

Gidley, Mick, A catalogue of American paintings in British public collection, Exeter: University of Exeter, 1974
p. 15

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 56

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Collector's mark: none.

Inscription: Recto: lower right corner, brown ink, signed and dated by the artist: “B. West / 1788 / Windsor.”.

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