?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(WEST, BENJAMIN.) Galt, John. The Life and Studies of Benjamin West, Esq. . . . Second Edition. Two portraits and one plate. 8vo, recent 3/4 red morocco gilt. contains an autograph letter signed by galt to west, with an original ink sketch by west (measuring 110x80 mm) on the verso of the address leaf, 1 folded folio page, dated 28 January 1813, mounted to a bound-in paper strip along verso of first page along horizontal fold. London: T. Cadell & W. Davies, 1817
West was considered the father of American painting and was the first artist to achieve international fame. He was the founder of the American School of painting and a pioneer of European classicism and of romanticism in figure painting. For nearly 150 years, Galt's was the only biography of him. The letter asks West to accept a copy of Galt's latest work, his Life of Cardinal Wolsey, and notes that it contains several ideas which West had disclosed to him in conversation. The sketch is similar to his other drawings of Achilles and was likely executed around the time of the letter.
