I do not think that there can be two opinions with respect to the utility of a work of this kind. Mr. West, in relating the circumstances by which he was led to approximate, without the aid of an instructor, to those principles and rules of art, which it is the object of schools and academies to disseminate, has conferred a greater benefit on young Artists than he could possibly have done by the most ingenious and eloquent lectures on the theories of his profession; and it was necessary that the narrative should appear in his own time, in order that the authenticity of the incidents might not rest on the authority of any biographer.
April 25,1816.
John Galt.
Part I.
Contents.
The Birth and Paternal Ancestry of Mr. West.--His Maternal Family.--His Father.--The Origin of the Abolition of Slavery by the Quakers.--The Progress of the Abolition.--The Education of the Negroes.--The Preaching of Edmund Peckover.--His Admonitory Prediction to the Father of West.--The first Indication of Benjamin's Genius.--State of Society in Pennsylvania.--The Indians give West the Primary Colours.--The Artist's first Pencils.--The Present of a Box of Colours and Engravings.--His first Painting.
The Artist visits Philadelphia.--His second Picture.--Williams the Painter gives him the works of Fresnoy and Richardson.--Anecdote of the Taylor's Apprentice.--The Drawings of the Schoolboys.--Anecdote relative to Wayne.--Anecdote relative to Mr. Flower.--Anecdote relative to Mr. Ross.--Anecdote of Mr. Henry.--The Artist's first Historical Picture.--Origin of his Acquaintance with Dr. Smith of Philadelphia.--The friendship of Dr. Smith, and the character of the early companions of West.--Anecdote of General Washington.