Ephemera Categories
| Broadside advertising Benjamin West reproduction |
| Written by John Lee |
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This broadside advertises an exhibition of a reproduction of Benjamin West's famous painting Death on a Pale Horse. See an image of the painting here. Note that the broadside credits W Dunlap as the painter and Benjamin West as the designer. Reproducing previously painted works was common in the18th and 19th centuries when the original works of art were closely held in private collections. Often, painters would produce their own reproductions. In fact, West himself painted several duplicates for paying customers.
West completed Death on a Pale Horese in 1789 and traveled Europe diplaying the painting.
Other shows depicted the painting in a range of contexts. This 1818 printed description that accompanied an exhibit of West's work in London, provides a detailed interpretation of the work. Read about Benjamin West as history painter in this post Reading History: Simon Schama's "Dead Certain"
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