An American Artist Knighted

Sir Benjamin West (1738-1820) was born at Springfield, Pennsylvania, of Quaker parentage. There is a wide difference between his cottage home in Pennsylvania and his Cathedral tomb in St. Paul's, London. His career "from his cradle to his grave" was one of unswerving industry, and it was his continuous effort that brought him his great rewards. He was elected the successor of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Knighted as the second President of the Royal Academy. He left 3000 paintings, some of which have come back to his native land. His "Lear" is in the Boston Athenaeum; his "Hamlet and Ophelia" in the collection of Mr. Longworth, of Cincinnati; "Christ Healing the Sick" in the Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia; but most of his works remain in England. West is a good exponent of the English School. He inaugurated a new era in painting by delineating his characters without the conventional Greek and Roman costumes. He also discovered the principle of the camera obscura, which was suggested to him by the effect of the light that came through a crevice in a closed shutter of his sick-room.