The Inspiration of the Prophet Isaiah, Benjamin West

Exhibition Label: "Forms of Thought," Mar-2014, Kris Ercums Benjamin West was the first American-born artist to study in Italy, and he looked to artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael for inspiration. After relocating to Protestant London from Italy, West was commissioned by King George III to decorate the walls of the Chapel of Revealed Religion inside Windsor Castle. This composition is a study for a much larger painting now displayed in War Memorial Chapel at Bob Jones University in South Carolina. Even though the chapel was never completed, West considered this series his life’s greatest work. Portrayals of the Old Testament figure of Isaiah can be traced back to the 3rd century. Isaiah is a symbol of the New Dispensation-a transition, in flesh and spirit, from the old law to the new. At a time when the patronage of religious works was not common, West revived the prophecy of Isaiah to express support for the Church of England and the king. Exhibition Label: "Empire of Things," 2013, Kate Meyer Benjamin West was the first American-born artist to study in Italy, and he looked to artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael for inspiration. Inspiration of the Prophet Isaiah is a study for a much larger painting, one of two wings for a three-part altarpiece. Portrayals of the Old Testament figure of Isaiah can be traced back to the 3rd century. Isaiah is a symbol of the New Dispensation-a transition, in flesh and spirit, from the old law to the new. After relocating to Protestant London from Italy, West was commissioned by King George III to decorate the walls of the Chapel of Revealed Religion inside Windsor Castle. At a time when the patronage of religious works was not common, West revived the prophecy of Isaiah to express support for the Church of England and the king. Even though the chapel was never completed, West considered this series his life’s greatest work. Archive Label 2003: Benjamin West, the first great American-born painter, was raised in backwoods Pennsylvania, studied in Rome, and settled in England, where he rose to the top of the English art establishment as the official “History Painter” to the court of George III. Around 1780 West began work on a series of thirty-five paintings that were to decorate the King’s private chapel proposed for Windsor Castle. Neither the series nor the chapel were ever finished, but between 1780 and the cancellation of the project in 1810, West finished many of the paintings as well as a number of related drawings and studies. The Prophet Isaiah is a study in oil, without full color or modeling, for a much larger canvas (150 by 40 inches), one of two wings for a huge, three-part altarpiece. The finished original, in the Bob Jones University Collection in Greenville, South Carolina, like this sketch, shows an angel rather than the Biblical seraphim anointing the prophet’s lips, as in the passage from Isaiah 6:6-7: Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”