Hampton Court ... Illustrated with forty-three drawings by Herbert ...

BENJAMIN WEST 203
and human, prepares us for his greatest work, "The
Death of General Wolfe " (No. 320). This is thehighwater
mark ofhis style. Hehad dared to paintmilitary
scenes without a cloak of classicalism. He dressed his
soldiers as they lived. It was a veritable revolution,
and it may be said to have founded a whole modern
school of art. Though they have long ago cast off
his stiffness, his classical poses, his methodical arrangement,
our modern battle-painters may trace their
origin toBenjamin West. And "The Death of General
Wolfe " is really a triumph of its kind. Careful as
is the grouping, it is not too obviously artificial;
skilful as is the lighting of the picture, it is not unnatural.
And the scene is told with sober sincerity,
honesty, and with a genuine pathos.
What a furore it created we all know, from the
popularity of the engravings of it, and the host of
imitations which the next fifty years produced. For
half a century there was not a prominent military
death which was not painted in a composition more
or less closely modelled on West's chef d'Suvre.
From Copley, also an American, to the artists who
painted Nelson's battles, the line continues. It is
hardly even now extinct.
"The Death of Wolfe" is a picture easy enough
to sneer at, but in historical interest, in sympathy,
in composition, and in colour, it is a work which is
worthy of afull and respectful attention. The " West
Room" at Hampton Court is not the least interesting
or characteristic in historic attractions of the Palace.