Head of a Screaming Man (recto)

West employed thick, decisive crayon strokes to define the facial musculature, using the mid‑tone of the paper as a base and adding darker shadows beneath the chin and in the hair. The rapid, gestural line work reflects a study intended to explore form and expression rather than a finished composition.

Created while West was court painter in London, the study was part of his preparation for a royal commission that never reached completion. The intended painting, now lost, was to have been displayed for King George III, though the monarch never saw the final work. The drawing itself remained in West’s estate and entered the museum collection through later acquisition.

West’s approach draws on the teachings of French artist Charles Le Brun, whose lectures on depicting the passions of the soul were influential in academic circles. The study parallels an oil sketch of a pharaoh’s screaming head, suggesting West was experimenting with similar dramatic facial gestures across different subjects.

Although the larger painting is missing, the drawing offers insight into West’s method of translating theoretical ideas about emotion into visual form. It also illustrates the transatlantic exchange of artistic theory in the eighteenth century, linking American, British, and French academic traditions.