Benjamin West, P.R.A.

Sir Maxwell Aitken, 1^st Baron Beaverbrook by 1950;
By whom donated to the present owner.

Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia College of Art, 23 January - 8 February 1970.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting was restored in a rather clumsy fashion and needs to be reexamined. The canvas has been lined onto aluminum or masonite using wax as an adhesive, with a piece of canvas applied to the reverse. This process diminished any texture which may have been evident and add to this a very heavily varnished surface, and we see a very smooth painting. Under ultraviolet light there are some rather broad strokes of re-paint in the hat, in the sky in the upper left, and a few random spots in the coat and red upholstery on the left. However, the condition of the paint layer and the extent of the abrasion to the surface is not easily judged under ultraviolet light examination. So, while I have no doubt that removing and changing the lining and cleaning the paint layer would result in a chance to restore this painting better, this represents a fair amount of work and the possibility that further retouches exist beneath the older varnish.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

In a letter dated June 2005, Allen Staley wrote endorsing a full attribution of this impressive self-portrait of Benjamin West which was not previously included in his 1986 monograph on the artist.

The marked resemblance borne by this portrait to that in the Baltimore Museum of Art, is particularly worthy of note; West painted himself from the same angle and again with sketches in hand, he adopts the similar tilt of the head,  projecting a distinct air of self-assuredness.¹  The artist poses once more in a large beaver hat, in what von Erffa and Staley describe as "a conscious emulation" of the Rubens self-portrait, housed in the English Royal Collection.²  Shortly after his arrival in England in 1763, King George III commissioned West to produce portraits of the Royal Family and in 1772 employed him as historical painter to the court.  From this time the artist would have enjoyed access to the collection at Windsor Castle and would certainly have been exposed to Rubens' portraits.  Comparing the present work to other self-portraits by West, the differences in hairstyle and handling of paint place this work later in West's oeuvre than the Baltimore picture, dated circa 1776, yet earlier than the self-portrait now in the Royal Academy, London, signed and dated 1792.  As such, Staley suggests a date of circa 1780, when the artist was forty-two years old.

The present painting displays the freedom of handling typical of West's work, yet the broad strokes of the necktie and cuff; the swift marks to convey the presence of books on the desk; and the slight pallor of the face, suggest the painting was perhaps not completely finished and that the artist had intended to return to embellish these details.

Provenance:
Sir Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook was born in Maple, Ontario, in 1879 and he acquired his fortune through investment in the Canadian cement industry.  Having moved to England at the turn of the 19^th century, he was elected to the House of Commons and became leader of the Conservative Party in 1911, being one of only three figures to have served in the cabinet during both World Wars.  In addition to his successes in the political arena, Beaverbrook swiftly emerged as a newspaper magnate, retaining several influential newspapers, such as the Daily Express and the London Evening Standard, and transforming the face of contemporary journalism.  A fervent patron of the arts, he was a generous benefactor to a number of public institutions including the National Gallery of Canada, eventually opening the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick in 1959.

1.  H. von Erffa and A. Staley, The Paintings of Benjamin West, New Haven and London, 1986, p. 451, cat. no. 526, reproduced p. vi.
2.  Ibid., For the Rubens self-portrait see H. Vlieghe, 'Rubens Portraits of identified sitters painted in Antwerp vol II', in L. Burchard, Corpus Rubenianum, part XIX, no.135, reproduced plate no.171.