Benjamin West

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Benjamin West
1738-1820
The Cave of Despair
Graphite tracing, on paper.
13 3/4 x 16 inches (351 x 405 mm)
Purchased as the gift of Mrs. Robert H. Charles.
1970.11:242
Notes: 

Watermark: D. & C. Blauw (Heawood 3268).
An illustration of Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene" (Book I: The Legend of the Red Cross Knight, or of Holiness) painted by West in 1772.

Provenance: 
Estate of the artist; by descent; Harry Margary, the great-grandson of Maria West (daughter of Raphael Lamar West, and granddaughter of Benjamin West); Thos. Agnew and Sons, Ltd., London; from whom purchased 60 drawings, 17 June 1964, and 197 drawings, 15 February 1965, by M. Knoedler and Co., Inc.; from whom purchased 257 drawings by the Morgan Library in 1970.
Associated names: 

Margary, Harry, former owner.
Charles, Robert H., Mrs., donor.

Bibliography: 

Kraemer, Ruth S. Drawings by Benjamin West and his son Raphael Lamar West. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1975, no. 206.

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