BENJAMIN WEST
149 The Fright of 'Astyanax
(Hector Bidding Farewell
to Andromache)
Pen and brown ink, brown wash, and blue and white
gouache on brown prepared paper; H: 31.8 cm (i23 4 in.);
W:46cm(i8I/ 8 in.)
84.00.722
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At top left corner, in-
scribed From Benj.n West esq I to I Gen^1 Kosciusko I London
June ioth. 11797 in brown ink by West.
PROVENANCE: Benjamin West to General Thaddeus
Kosciuszko, June 1797; General Thaddeus Kosciuszko to
Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, until 1826; by descent to
the Jefferson heirs;^1 private collection, United States;
(sale, Christie's, New York, January 7, 1981, lot 55); art
market, New York.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: T. Jefferson, Inventory of art objects at
Monticello, circa 1809, p. 6, no. 57 (University of Vir-
ginia, no. 2958); T. Jefferson, Monticello, to W. Thorn-
ton, December 14, 1814 (Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Foundation, Monticello); Bernhard, duke of Saxe-Wei-
mar-Eisenach, Travels Through North America During the
Years 1825 and 1826 (Philadelphia, 1828), vol. i, pp. 198-
199; M. G. Kimball, The Furnishing of Monticello (Char-
lottesville, 1927); 2nd edn. (Philadelphia, 1954), pp. 10,
12 ; idem, "Jefferson's Works of Art at Monticello," An-
tiques 59, no. 4 (April 1951), pp. 298, 308; W. G. Con-
stable, Art Collecting in the U.S.A. (London, 1964), p. 12;
H. E. Dickson, "Jefferson as Art Collector," in W. H.
Adams, ed., Jefferson and the Arts: An Extended View
(Washington, 1976), p. 121; S. Howard, "Thomas Jef-
ferson's Art Gallery for Monticello," Art Bulletin 59, no.
4 (December 1977), pp. 599; R. C. Alberts, Benjamin
West: A Biography (Boston, 1978), p. 222, n. 6; H. von
Erffa and A. Staley, The Paintings of Benjamin West (New
Haven and London, 1986), pp. 130, 133, no. 165.THIS HIGHLY FINISHED COMPOSITION WAS PRESENTED
by West to the Polish patriot Thaddeus Kosciuszko dur-
ing the latter's brief visit to London in June 1797 after his
release from a Russian prison.^2 They met on June 7th and
Kosciuszko received the drawing three days later. By De-
cember of the same year he was living in Philadelphia,
where he was introduced to then-vice president Thomas
Jefferson in February 1798. It is very likely that the draw-
ing was presented to Jefferson by Kosciuszko between
their initial encounter and May 1798, the period in which
they became close friends. It was later kept by Jefferson
at Monticello.
In 1767 and 1771 , West exhibited two paintings of
this theme, both of which are lost, but there is no reason
to associate this much later drawing with either of them.
It has been suggested by von Erffa and Staley (1986, p.
130) that the choice of subject from the Iliad showing
Hector departing from his family to face the hopeless
combat with Achilles may allude to Kosciuszko's role in
Poland's unsuccessful war of independence from Russia.
This would indicate that the drawing dates from the pe-
riod of the gift, which would agree with its style.- The drawing was placed in the Thomas Jefferson sale at the
Athenaeum, Boston, on May i, 1828 (lot 315), but apparently
was withdrawn (Martha Jefferson Randolph to Thomas Jeffer-
son Randolph, July 28, 1833, Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Foundation, Monticello). This information was generously
provided by S. R. Stein, Curator of Monticello. - This entry is largely based on a letter datedjune 1,1981, from
A. Staley to a former owner of the drawing.
33 O BRITISH SCHOOL • WEST