Study for "Alexander III, King of Scotland, Saved from a Stag by Colin Fitzgerald"

Benjamin West

1784 · Pen and brown ink, brown ink washes, black chalk, and graphite on off-white (now oxidized) laid paper. · The American Wing

West’s drawings reveal his genius as a teacher, who not only respected the academic tradition of making drawings before painting but also had a great flair for the expressive media of ink, watercolor, and graphite. He made several sketches for his interpretation of an apocryphal episode from the history of Clan MacKenzie: the clan’s founder, Colin Fitzgerald, is depicted in the act of killing the stag that attacked Alexander III of Scotland in the forests near Kincardine. West’s composition and manner of rendering were surely inspired by the battle and hunt pictures of Peter Paul Rubens, especially “Wolf and Fox Hunt” (10.73), which West had seen at Corsham Court in 1763.

Artist

Benjamin West

Date

1784

Medium

Pen and brown ink, brown ink washes, black chalk, and graphite on off-white (now oxidized) laid paper.

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Diane, Daniel, and Mathew Wolf, in memory of Diane R. Wolf, 2003