616 
WEST. 
seats, and though thy mitred head must descend into the 
dust, as deep as the earth that now covers thy ancient hel¬ 
met and imperial diadem, thy spirit, immortal and unde¬ 
cayed, already spreads towards a new world,—like the soul 
of man in paradise, it will be perfected in virtue and beauty 
more and more.” Mr. West, like Reynolds, was at first 
imperfectly sensible to the beauties of Raphael and Michael 
Angelo, of the latter of whom he never became any peculiar 
admirer. Accustomed to the quietude of a Pennsylvanian 
life, the agitations of Rome threw him into a fever, from 
which the physicians declared that he could only recover by 
removal to a more tranquil scene. After his recovery, he 
visited all the great schools of Italy, and made a copy of the 
famous St. Jerome of Corregio. 
Mr. West repaired, in 1763, to England, where he soon 
became acquainted with Sir Joshua Reynolds and Richard 
Wilson, and was introduced to other eminent men. But 
his chief obligations were to Dr. Drummond, archbishop of 
York, who engaged him to paint for him the story of 
“ Agrippina landing with the ashes of Germanicus.” The 
Archbishop was so gratified by the performance, that he 
immediately introduced both the picture and the artist to the 
notice of his late Majesty. That monarch, endued both 
with taste and discernment in the fine arts, was so delighted 
with it, that he thenceforth made Mr. West the object of 
his especial favour and patronage. He suggested to him the 
subject of “ the Final Departure of Regulus from Rome 
and the applause which the picture received at the first ex¬ 
hibition, was equally gratifying to the artist and to the royal 
patron. 
Mr. West was now frequently invited to spend the evening 
at Buckingham-house; and his Majesty held long conversa¬ 
tions with him on the best means of promoting the arts. It 
was to these that the plan of the “ Royal Academy” owed 
its origin ; an institution equally creditable to the nation and 
beneficial to art. The name of Reynolds, however, was 
too high to admit the idea of any other person being ap¬ 
pointed president; but, on the death of Sir Joshua, in 1791, 
Mr. West, with universal approbation, succeeded to that 
high place. He painted for the King “ the Oath of Hanni¬ 
bal," the “ Death of Epaminondas,” and several other sub¬ 
jects. For Earl Grosvenor, he painted the “ Death of 
Wolfe,” so well known from the fine print of Woollet; but 
the novel introduction of coats, breeches, and cocked hats, 
into a heroic picture, was censured by the King, and by se¬ 
veral of the best painters. 
His Majesty, continuing to bestow his patronage on Mr. 
West, employed him in a truly magnificent work. It was 
to adorn a private chapel, or oratory, at Windsor, with a 
series of thirty-five paintings, illustrative of the history of 
revealed religion. On this work, with the exception of a very 
short suspension, seemingly occasioned by the influence of 
the Queen, Mr. West was employed, without intermission, till 
the Monarch’s last illness. Then, being deprived of royal 
patronage, he made an appeal to the public, which was 
completely successful. His celebrated picture of “ Christ 
healing the Sick,” was purchased by the British Institution 
for three thousand guineas; while his subsequent works of 
“ Christ Rejected,” and “ Death on the Pale Horse,” have 
produced large sums by their mere exhibition. Mr. West 
had received from the King 34,187/. for various pictures; a 
bounty, we suspect, surpassing even the boasted generosity 
of Leo X. 
Our artist was now far declined into the vale of years. 
His wife, an American lady, and the object of an early at¬ 
tachment, died on the 16th December, 1817, and thus 
closed an union of fifty years. This loss was deeply felt, 
and accelerated the decline of his health, which went on in¬ 
creasing till the 10th March, 1820, when he exp.red with¬ 
out a struggle. His remains were interred in St. Paul’s Ca¬ 
thedral, and were honoured with a public funeral, which 
was attended, not only by all his brethren of the art, but 
by many of the most distinguished personages of the king¬ 
dom. 
The following character of Mr. West, as a man and a 
painter, is given by his ingenious friend Mr. Galt. 
“ In his deportment Mr. West was mild and considerate: 
his eye was keen, and his mind apt; but he was slow and 
methodical in his reflections, and the sedateness of his re¬ 
marks must often, in his younger years, have seemed to 
strangers singularly at variance with the vivacity of his look. 
That vivacity, however, was not the result of any peculiar 
animation ot temperament, it was rather the illumination of 
his genius; for, when his features were studiously considered, 
they appeared to resemble those which we find associated 
with dignity of character, in the best productions of art. 
As an artist, he will stand in the first rank. His name will 
be classed with those of Michael Angelo and Raphael; but 
he possessed little in common with either. As the former 
has been compared to Homer, and the latter to Virgil, in 
Shakspeare we shall perhaps find the best likeness to the 
genius of Mr. West. He undoubtedly possessed, but in a 
slight degree, that peculiar energy and physical expression 
of character in which Michael Angelo excelled ; and, in a 
still less, that serene sublimity which constitutes the charm 
of Raphael’s great productions. But he was their equal in 
the fulness, the perspicuity, and the propriety of his compo¬ 
sitions. In all his great works, the scene intended to be 
brought before the spectator is represented in such a manner, 
that the imagination has nothing to supply. The incident, 
the time, and the place, are there as we think they must 
have been ; and it is this wonderful force of conception 
which renders the sketches of Mr. West so much more ex¬ 
traordinary than his finished pictures. In the finished pic¬ 
tures, we naturally institute comparisons in colouring, anti 
in beauty of figure, and in a thousand details, which are 
never noticed in the sketches of this illustrious artist. But, 
although his powers of conception were so superior,—equal 
in their excellence to Michael Angelo’s energy, or Raphael's 
grandeur, still, in the inferior departments of drawing and 
colouring, he was one of the greatest artists of his age; it 
was not, however, till late in life that he executed any of 
those works in which he thought the splendour of the Vene¬ 
tian school might be judiciously imitated. At one time he 
intended to collect his works together, and to form a ge¬ 
neral exhibition of them all. Had he accomplished this, the 
greatness and versatility of his talents would have been es¬ 
tablished beyond all controversy; for unquestionably he was 
one of those great men whose genius cannot be justly esti¬ 
mated by particular works, but only by a collective inspec¬ 
tion of the variety, the extent, and the number of their pro¬ 
ductions." 
WEST (Gilbert), the son of theRev. Dr. West, preben¬ 
dary of Winchester, and of a sister of sir Richard Temple, 
afterwards lord Cobham, was born in 1706, and educated 
for the church at Eton and Christchurch, in Oxford; but 
preferring a military life, he served in the army till he recei¬ 
ved an appointment in the office of lord Townshend, secre¬ 
tary of state, with whom he accompanied king George I. to 
Hanover. In early life he entertained doubts concerning the 
Christian religion, which were instilled into him and his 
cousin Lyttelton by lord Cobham. In 1729 he was ap¬ 
pointed a clerk-extraordinary of the privy council; and soon 
after, being married, he settled at Wickham in Kent. His 
income was not large, but it was sufficient to entertain his 
friends Pitt and Lyttelton, who often visited him for literary 
recreation at Wickham. As a poet, he was known in 1742 
by a piece on a dramatic plan, entitled “ The Institution of 
the Order of the Garter," distinguished by pure and elevated 
morality, and containing passages of elegant fancy and 
splendid diction. West’s “ Observations on the Resurrection 
of Christ,” published in 1747, engaged the particular atten¬ 
tion of the public, and even induced the University of Ox¬ 
ford to confer upon the author the degree of doctor of laws. 
This work was so well executed, that we may well regret his 
not having lived to have completed hisdesignby another work 
on the evidence of the truth of the New Testament. In 1752 
the circumstances of our author were improved by succeed- 
