Lot 104
AFTER BENJAMIN WEST
Note:
When West painted his famous The Death of General Wolfe in 1770, he depicted the general at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759. The artist rejected the convention of representing contemporary heroes in antique armour, paying scrupulous attention to the details of their uniforms, and to the native costumes based on Woodlands aboriginal artifacts in his possession. The painting created a sensation at the Royal Academy in London when exhibited in 1771. The painting immediately became popular and West and his assistants painted several copies of it including those in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada and the Royal Ontario Museum. In 1776 an engraving was published in London and has served as the basis for a number of copies, of which this lot is fine example.