Skip to main content
Exhibition History"This New Man," National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, September 28, 1968 - December 31, 1968.
“Portraits USA 1776-1976,” Pennsylvania State University Museum of Art, University Park, PA, April 18, 1976 - June 6, 1976.
“Benjamin West and His American Students,” National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, October 16, 1980 - January 4, 1981.
“Work of Benjamin West, Baltimore Museum of Art,” Baltimore, MD, May 28, 1989 - August 25, 1989.
“American Treasures from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL, February 20 – April 11, 2004.
“Bob's Folly: Building America's First Practical Steamboat,” Clermont State Historic Site, Germantown, NY, May 4, 2007 - December 31, 2007.
“Rufus Porter's Curious World" Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, December 12, 2019 - May 31, 2020.
BibliographyElizabeth Mankin Kornhauser, American Paintings Before 1945 in the Wadsworth Atheneum, Vol. 2 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996), pp. 781-789.
Artist
Benjamin West
(1728 - 1820)
Related Person
Robert Fulton
(1765 - 1815)
Robert Fulton
Date1806
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsFramed: 46 × 38 1/8 × 4 in. (116.8 × 96.8 × 10.2 cm)
Sight: 36 3/8 × 28 1/4 in. (92.3 × 71.8 cm)
Object numberN0218.1961
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextRobert Fulton (1765-1815) was a proud, energetic, ambitious man with an interest in virtually everything. He is famous today for his pioneering role in the invention of the steamboat, but he was also an accomplished artist and a political visionary. In the background of this likeness Fulton's recent invention, the torpedo, is depicted in full explosion. Benjamin West painted Fulton's portrait while in London. West became King George III's official history painter and supported any American artist who asked for assistance. He influenced two generations of American artists including Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827), Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-1872), and Washington Allston (1779-1843). As a leading painter in 18th-century Europe, West made stylistic innovations in neoclassicism, romanticism, and the use of modern dress in history paintings.Exhibition History"This New Man," National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, September 28, 1968 - December 31, 1968.
“Portraits USA 1776-1976,” Pennsylvania State University Museum of Art, University Park, PA, April 18, 1976 - June 6, 1976.
“Benjamin West and His American Students,” National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, October 16, 1980 - January 4, 1981.
“Work of Benjamin West, Baltimore Museum of Art,” Baltimore, MD, May 28, 1989 - August 25, 1989.
“American Treasures from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL, February 20 – April 11, 2004.
“Bob's Folly: Building America's First Practical Steamboat,” Clermont State Historic Site, Germantown, NY, May 4, 2007 - December 31, 2007.
“Rufus Porter's Curious World" Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, December 12, 2019 - May 31, 2020.
BibliographyElizabeth Mankin Kornhauser, American Paintings Before 1945 in the Wadsworth Atheneum, Vol. 2 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996), pp. 781-789.
On View
On viewc. 1885-1887
