Benjamin West, P.R.A. Swarthmore, PA 1738-1820 London

Offered by West's sons, Raphael and Benjamin, to the United States in 1826;
By whom sold, London, George Robins, May 22-25, 1829, lot 157, bt. by Bone for £294 on behalf of
Joseph Neeld, MP, Grittleton House, Wilts.;
Thence by descent to Miss C. K. M. Neeld;
By whom sold, London, Christie's, November 16, 1962, lot 101;
With Graham Gallery, New York;
With Peter Rose Gallery, New York;
From whom acquired by the present collector in 1983.

London, Society of Artists, 1767, no. 171;
London, British Institution, 1833, no. 43 (lent by Joseph Neeld).

Public Advertiser, May 1767, Press Cuttings from English Newspapers on Matters of Artistic Interest 1686-1835, Victoria and Albert Museum Library, London;
J. D. Passavant, Tour of a German Artist in England, with notices of private galleries, and remarks on the State of Art, vol. I, London 1836, p. 187;
A. Graves, The Society of Artists of Great Britain (1760-91); The Free Society of Artists (1761-1783), London 1907, p. 275;
J. Locquin, La Peinture d'histoire en France de 1747 à 1785, Paris 1912, p. 154;
H. Galley, "Notes by Horace Walpole, Fourth Earl of Orford, on the Exhibitions of the Society of Artists & The Free Society of Artists, 1760-1791," in Walpole Society, XXVII, 1938-39, p. 8;
C. C. Sellers, The Artist of the Revolution: The Early Life of Charles Willson Peale, Hebron, Ct. 1939, vol. I, p. 75;
H. von Erffa, "Benjamin West: The Early Years in London, " American Art Journal, V, 1973, pp. 12, 14;
H. von Erffa and A. Staley, The Paintings of Benjamin West, New Haven & London 1986, p. 226, cat. no. 112, reproduced (as circa 1767).

ENGRAVED:
Engraving in reverse, drawn by Richard Earlom, engraved by John Hall, published by J. Boydell, Sept. 1, 1769.

This painting is the first in a series of works by West depicting different moments in the story of Venus and Adonis (Ovid, Metamorphoses, 10, 519-739) which the artist exhibited throughout his career.  When it was shown at the Society of Artists in 1767, it was followed in the catalogue by West's painting of Jupiter and Semele (destroyed, see Erffa and Staley Literature below, cat. no. 155) and, though not listed as companions, they seem to have been regarded as such by all the contemporary observers.