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Creator:
Benjamin West, 1738–1820
Title:

Gentlemen Fishing

Former Title(s):

The Fishing Party - a Party of Gentlemen fishing from a Punt

Date:
1794
Medium:
Oil on slate
Dimensions:
12 1/8 x 17 inches (30.8 x 43.2 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Signed and dated in white paint, lower left: "B. West | 1794"

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2001.2.289
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:
B2001.2.289FR
Subject Terms:
boat | fishing | fishing line | genre subject | men | recreation | river | water | wind
Access:
Not on view
Note: To make an appointment to see this work, please contact the Paintings and Sculpture department at ycba.paintings@yale.edu. Please visit the Paintings and Sculpture collections page on our website for more details.
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:42759
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The gentlemen are fishing on Dagenham Breach, a lake formed by a breach in the river-wall on the north bank of the Thames a few miles below Greenwich; the shipping in the background on the left is river traffic. According to an account of the painting by Benjamin West's sons, the party includes the artist himself and his friend Sir Hugh Palliser, governor of Greenwich Hospital. The faces are not rendered in detail, but West is probably identifiable as the man in shirtsleeves elegantly handing a fish to a servant, and Palliser as the older man seated on the far left of the group. In its everyday subject the work was unusual for West, who painted largely in a grand, classical idiom. When it was shown at the Royal Academy, a critic remarked that it showed more talent in a few square inches "than is to be found in as many acres of his painted statues!"

Malcolm Warner

Warner, Malcolm and John Baskett. The Paul Mellon Bequest: Treasures of a Lifetime. New Haven : Yale Center for British Art, 2001, p. 55

The Paul Mellon Bequest : Treasures of a Lifetime (Yale Center for British Art, 2001-02-17 - 2001-04-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

A correct catalogue of the works of Benjamin West, es2, La Belle Assemblee, London, June 1808, p. 18, Gale Primary Source [ORBIS]

A Correct Catalogue of the Works of Mr. West, Public Characters of 1805, p. 566, V2161 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Robert C. Alberts, Benjamin West : A Biography, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1978, p. 221, NJ18 W52 A6 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Benjamin West, President of the Royal Academy: the Artist, La Belle Assemblee, supplemental pp. 18, V2175 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Christie's (UK), Christie's sale catalogue: Catalogue of the collection of angling pictures, early English drawings, and Mezzotints of Arthur N. Gilbey, Esq.: 25 April 1940, Christie's, London, 25 April 1940, pp. 34, lot 136, Fiche B51 (YCBA) [YCBA]

John Galt, Life, Studies, and Works of Benjamin West, Esq./ composed from materials furnished by himself, , T. Caddell and W. Davies, London, 1820, Part II pp. 229, ND237 .W45 G4 (YCBA) YCBA Rare Books [YCBA]

John Galt, The Life of Benjamin West (1816-1820), Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, Gainesville, FL, 1960, pp. 229, NJ18 W.52 G.35 1960A (YCBA) [YCBA]

John Galt, The life studies and works of Benjamin West, esq., President of royal academy of london, Gale Primary Source, London, 1820, p.229, Gale Primary Source [ORBIS]

Algernon Graves, A century of loan exhibitions, 1813-1912, 4, London, p. 1648, no. 51, N5051 G.73 4 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Helmut von Erffa, The Paintings of Benjamin West, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1986, pp. 417, 422, 425, no. 446, NJ18 W52 A12 +E73 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Warner, Paul Mellon Bequest: Treasures of a Lifetime, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2001, pp. 55, N5247 M385 P28 2001 [ORBIS]

Malcolm Warner, The Paul Mellon Bequest : treasures of a lifetime, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2001, p. 55, N5247 M385 P28 2001 (YCBA) [YCBA]


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