Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/472

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WEST
WEST

the king. Undaunted, he again began a series of works. The first was " Christ healing the Sick " (1802), which was painted for the Pennsylvania hospital in Philadelphia, but bought by the British institution for £3,000. A copy, with some altera- tions, was afterward presented to the hospital. This was followed by the " Descent of the Holy Ghost on Christ at Jordan," " The Crucifixion," " The Ascension," " The Inspiration of St. Peter," and the famous " Death on the Pale Horse." Among his other important works are " The Treaty of Penn," the celebrated " Battle of La Hogue," " Christ Rejected," and various illustrations of Shakespearean scenes. The works from his hand that are owned in the United States include " Death on the Pale Horse " and " Paul and Barnabas," in possession of the Pennsylvania academy ; " Penn's Treaty with the Indians," in Independence hall, Philadelphia; some classical subjects and a por- trait of Charles W. Peale, owned by the New York historical society, and " King Lear," belonging to the Boston athenaeum. In 1817 his wife died, and from that moment his strength began to fail. With mental faculties unimpaired, he died quietly on 11 March, 1820. He was buried in St. Paul's cathedral. In the 400 historical and sacred sub- jects that he painted, and of which many have been engraved, West showed skill in composition and a profound theoretical knowledge of art. But the monotonous reddish-brown tint in his works has been objected to, and it seems undoubted that at times he had the courage to attempt subjects which it would have been almost beyond the power of artists of greater genius to delineate. Yet, as one critic has said, " men should be judged not absolutely, but relatively," and West, though not entirely free from the conventionalities of his time, had at least the courage to protest against some of the prevailing ideas and fashions in art. As a man he was benevolent, kind, and liberal in imparting his knowledge to others. No painter has shown more kindness in aiding the struggling voung artists of his native land. Charles W. Peale, Gilbert Stuart, Joseph Wright, and John Trumbull were among those young students that sought West when they went to Europe, and all received the same hearty welcome and generous advice from him. Several portraits of West have been made. Sir Thomas Lawrence painted a full-length portrait of West. A copy of this, by Charles R. Leslie, and a portrait by Washington Allston, are owned by the Boston athenaeum. He also executed one himself. The vignette is from a painting by George H. Harlow, an English artist, and is perhaps the best of all West's portraits. A life of West was written by John Gait (London, 1820), which was severely criticised by William Dunlap. Numerous articles on West have been pub- lished, and interesting accounts of his life and criti- cisms on his works may be found in William Dun- lap's "History" (New York, 1834); C. Edwards Lester's "Artists of America" (1846); and Henry T. Tuckerman's " Book of the Artists" (1867).


WEST, Charles W., merchant, b. in Mont- gomery county, Pa., 7 Aug., 1810 ; d. in Cincin- nati, Ohio, 21 Sept., 1884. He received a common- school education, worked on a farm till he was twenty-one vears old, was a clerk in a mill at Rochester, N. Y., for four years, and then was en- gaged in milling at Columbia, Pa., for a year or two. He returned to Rochester, went to the west, and in 1841 established himself in Cincinnati, where he achieved commercial success. In Sep- tember, 1880, he offered to contribute $150,000 toward the erection of an art museum building, provided that an equal amount was raised by subscription, and on the condition being fulfilled he gave twice as much as he had promised. The building was begun in September, 1882, and com- pleted before the close of 1885.


WEST, George, manufacturer, b. in Devonshire, England, 17 Feb., 1823. He served an apprentice- ship of six years at his father's business of paper- making, and has been engaged in the same busi- ness with great success in this country ever since he arrived in 1849. He soon became manager of a paper-mill in Berkshire county, Mass., where he made the first water-lined paper that was manu- factured in the United States. In 1860 he went to Ballston, N. Y., where he has since resided. He is the owner of nine paper-mills, with additional business interests in England and New York city. He owns " The Daily Saratogian " and several other newspapers in central New York. Mr. West was a member of the general assembly of the state of New York from 1872 till 1876, inclusive, and has been a member of congress since 1881. He was also a delegate to the Republican national conventions of 1880 and 1884. He presented the Round Lake association with a handsome building equipped with curiosities and specimens at a cost of $ 18,000, and called the George West museum of art and archaeology, which was dedicated, 12 July, 1887.


WEST, Joseph Rodman, U. S. senator, b. in New Orleans, La., 19 Sept., 1822. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania, but was not graduated, served in the war with Mexico as a captain of volunteers, and emigrated in 1849 to California, where he engaged in commercial pursuits. At the opening of the civil war he was proprietor of the San Francisco " Prices Current." He entered the army as lieutenant-colonel of the 1st California infantry, saw service in New Mexico, and afterward in Arkansas and the southwest, was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, 25 Oct., 1862, and became brevet major-general, 4 Jan., 1866, when he was mustered out of the service. After the war he settled for a short time in Texas, and then removed to New Orleans, where he served as chief deputy U. S. marshal and auditor of the customs, and afterward as administrator of improvements, till he was elected U. S. senator from Louisiana as a Republican, serving from 4 March, 1871, till 3 March, 1877. Removing afterward to Washing- ton, D. C, he engaged in business, and in 1882-'5 was a commissioner of the District of Columbia.


WEST, Lionel Sackville Sackville-, British diplomatist, b. in Bourne Hall, Cambridgeshire, England, 19 July, 1827. He is the fifth son of George John West, fifth Earl Delawarr, and Lady Elizabeth Sackville, younger daughter of the Duke of Dorset. He was" educated by private tutors, entered the diplomatic service in 1847 as attache to the legation at Lisbon, and was appointed first paid attache at Berlin in 1853, and secretary of legation at Turin in 1858. He was transferred to Madrid in 1863, in 1867 promoted to secretary of embassy at Berlin, and during the absence or the ambassador in 1868 and 1869 acted as such at Paris. He was appointed minister to the Argentine Republic in 1872, was minister to Spain in 1878-'81, and in the latter year was appointed minister to the United States, which post he held till November, 1888. He was made a knight commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George on 26 June, 1885, and in August, 1888, grand cross of the same order. He is a lineal descendant of Thomas West, third Lord Delawarr, who was governor of Virginia in 1609, and from whom the state of Delaware takes its name. By