Elizabeth Shewell West and Her Son, Raphael, Benjamin West, 1765

West was the first american artist to study in italy, where he spent three years before permanently settling in london. He so admired the artistic ideals of the italian renaissance master raphael that he named his eldest son after him, and he imitated raphael’s celebrated madonna of the chair when composing this tender double portrait of his wife and child. Object Type: painting. Date: 1765. Place of creation: America, 18th century. Dimensions: Framed: 88 x 87.5 x 9 cm (34 5/8 x 34 7/16 x 3 9/16 in.); Unframed: 66.5 x 66.3 cm (26 3/16 x 26 1/8 in.). Medium: oil on canvas. Collection: Cleveland Museum of Art. Clevelandart 1927.393