In America. 649 Spain, and Matthew Pratt of Philadelphia, who went to England in 1764, and studied under West, are two of the first American artists worthy of record. But the true foundation of American Art was laid by Copley and West, who were almost cotemporaneous. John Singleton Copley (1737 — 1815), the historic painter, was born of Irish parents at Boston, United States — then a British colony. After painting for several years in his native city, he — forced, like many another American artist after him, by lack of material for study in his native country, to seek instruction in art in foreign countries — started in 1774 for England, where, after a tour on the Continent, he finally settled and died. Benjamin West (1738 — 1820), who was born at Spring- field, Pennsylvania, went to England in 1763, and rapidly rose in public favour, until he reached the height of his ambition in 1792, by becoming President of the Royal Academy. Of these two artists, we have already given a fuller notice among the British School. Charles Wilson Peale (1741 — 1826), who was born at Chesterton, Maryland, was not only a painter, but a worker in wood, metal and leather. Besides his oil- paintings, he executed numerous miniatures, for which he "sawed his own ivory, moulded the glasses, and made the shagreen cases." He also served in the American army, where he rose to the rank of Colonel. He studied under various masters — in Philadelphia under a German, in Boston with Copley, and in London with West. Peale, though lacking the highest qualities of an artist, was one of the most popular portrait-painters of his time, and was especially remarkable from the fact that he
