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Head of a Screaming Man (recto)

Benjamin West

1792

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Romanticism 18th Century

Dominant colour

Head of a Screaming Man (recto) is a 1792 by Benjamin West, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Benjamin West
When & what style?: 1792 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

A man’s face twists in a scream, mouth wide, eyes squeezed shut. The lines are quick and dark, like a sketch done in a hurry. This drawing was a practice piece for a bigger painting that no longer exists. Benjamin West made it for King George III, but he didn’t copy a real person—he worked from old ideas about how strong emotions should look. The king never saw the finished painting, but the sketch survived. To see how other artists showed raw feeling, look up chiaroscuro.

The story of this work

Overview

Born in rural Pennsylvania, trained in Italy, and based in London for the entirety of his career, Benjamin West exemplifies the transatlantic character of colonial-era American art. In England, his success as a history painter propelled him to the position of court painter by 1772. West’s study of the head of a screaming man, believed to be done in preparation for a now-lost painting commissioned by King George III (1738–1820), was likely not drawn from life. It was modeled on the ideas of French artist Charles LeBrun (1619–1690), whose lectures on depicting the passions of the soul were…

Did you know?

American painter Benjamin West was born into poverty, the youngest of ten children, and rose to become the first American artist to train in Italy after gaining funding from wealthy patrons in Philadelphia.

Read the full account in the museum source.