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Benjamin West
1738-1820
Portrait Head of a Lady
Black chalk on paper.
14 3/8 x 10 1/2 inches (365 x 268 mm)
Purchased as the gift of Mrs. Robert H. Charles.
1970.11:120
Notes:
Watermark: Britannia with letters IWS and crown with letters GR (Heawood 221, c. 1789).
This drawing is probably a portrait of Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, based on similarities between the features of the woman in this drawing and those of the Queen in West's 1789 full length painted portrait of her at Windsor Castle.
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. 153, repr.
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