PAINTED BY BENJAMIN WEST, ESQ.

PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY, LONDON,

AND PRESENTED BY HIM TO THE PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL.

BY JOHN ROBINSON,

PORTRAIT AND MINIATURE PAINTER, PHILADELPHIA.

“I also will shew mine opinion.”—Job xxxii. 17.

PHILADELPHIA:

PRINTED BY T. A. CONRAD, CORNER OF SIXTH & CHERRY STREETS,

FOR THE PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL.

1831.

INTRODUCTION.

UPON first viewing this celebrated painting, the mind is struck with awe; and our admiration is excited and increased, the more we enter into the spirit of the performance.

Such is the nature of the subject of the picture-so happily chosen for the benevolent institution to which Mr. West has presented it, that some description may be necessary, to arrive at this great artist's conception of, at least, the principal personages represented, and of their several actions: the picture being one of those things which is found to be of higher value, the more it is contemplated; the writer of the following pages endeavours to assist the mind of the observer in forming more readily a just idea of the general intention-not to describe in detail all the beauties of the work. He deems it proper to intimate, that he deprecates controversy; and that, according to his motto, he desires only "to shew his opinion." Nor does he, in this brief attempt, aspire to literary honours, but simply to give that opinion as an humble suitor of the fine arts, and a friend to truth.

THE TEXT OF THE PICTURE.

"And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hossanna to the Son of David, they were sore displeased." Matt. xxi. 14, 15.

The Principal Figure.

To appreciate with justice this grand and beautiful performance, I consider it necessary to state, that the highest achievement in the picture appears to be, that the artist presents the general scriptural character of the person of Christ to the mind of the beholder. The subject being that of Christ healing the sick, the individual figure before us performing that action, is at once known as the pictorial representation of the Lamb of God.

To illustrate the correctness of this delineation, other scriptural recollections should be present to the mind, beside those found in what we may call the text whence it was taken, and without which the extraordinary merit of the principal incidents of the picture cannot be distinctly felt. Among the most prominent traits of the character of Christ are the following: ❝he was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;" he was not esteemed, but "despised and rejected;" yet, "he bore our griefs, and carried our sorrows." From these passages, we are warranted in saying, that his benevolence and compassion were more enlarged, active, and refined, than those of any other man. The chief source of his sorrows was, the constant evidence of the immoral and degraded condition of mankind. He saw that man had become the chief foe of man; and there cannot be any doubt, that his vast and wondrous mind was far

more severely pained, and all his feelings wrought into higher excercise, at seeing and reflecting as he did, upon the universal dislocations of society, both public and private, than by witnessing their effects through the single medium of bodily sufferings. Thus, in the attitude and face of Christ in the picture, and even in those of some of his followers, the artist has evidently infused a deeper feeling than is called forth by the anguish of those, brought into the presence of the Saviour. We find therefore a dejected languor in every part of the figure. This is evinced by the attitude of the head, in connexion with the gently depressed chest: in the body with the lower limbs, and in the arms and hands, whose benign motion indicates all but the utterance, "be thou healed." These form a graceful whole, plainly expressing kindness, gentleness, and sorrow. That sympathetic, god-like bosom seems a place of refuge for the deeply stricken child of misery, worn out by fruitless cares, to rest his weary head upon. In the face, also, whose beauty may be considered the highest refinement of humanity, the same expression is continued; the nostrils are slightly expanded by softly restrained breathing, such as is the cause of sighing. The corners of the mouth are depressed, whilst its expression is that of peaceful and patient meekness: but the dejection is still more apparent in the downcast look of those otherwise fine eyes, which are not directed to any particular object—not even at the sick man, but below him, and most probably cast upon the pavement of the temple; and whose lids, when the complexion of the face is considered, will be seen to be slightly inflamed, through weeping. Thus we see, in the movements and expression of the whole person, and of every part, separately considered, the same harmonious evidence, that this is the man who is bearing our sorrows. On the brows, and the parts near to them, are witnessed the residence of power and greatness, far beyond fallible humanity. Power in wisdom, a greatness not so much of commanding majesty as that of calmness, which, in connexion with the rest of the face, indicates constancy and perseverance in love to the human family, which engages the affections: all which finely assimilate with the gentleness of the Saviour, who often wept