Sale 6352
| Philadelphia
| Philadelphia
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Adam Veil
VP, Head of Department, American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists
Estimate$6,000 – $8,000
Provenance:
Sotheby's, London, Sale of November 11, 1964, Lot 1.
Christie's, New York, Sale of January 31, 2019, Lot 106.
Lot Note:
According to Columbia University Professor, Allen Staley, author of The Paintings of Benjamin West (1986), the present work is indirectly related to the artist's Expulsion of Adam and Eve, painted for the Royal Chapel at Windsor in 1791. Absent Eve, Adam is here depicted advanced in age, framed by drapery that swirls about him. West's pen work is casual yet dramatic, underscoring Adam's circumstances. The inscription and signature are akin to those added posthumously by West's sons as an assurance of authenticity.