Benjamin West, John Galt, and the biography of 1816

88. Galt, 1816, 4. John Hoppner had charged that William Hayley was unqualified to write The Life of George Romney, Esq. (London, 1809) because he was neither artist nor art theorist; Hoppner, Quarterly Review 2 (Nov. 1809): 433. Galt must have been aware of Hayley's biography of Romney (1734-1802), but that artist's life and career, despite some early points of congruence with West's, unfolded quite differently.

89. "The Fine Arts," Port Folio 1 (Nov. 7, 1801): 355; emphasis in the original for all quotations from Port Folio.

90. "The Fine Arts," Port Folio 4 (Feb. 11, 1804): 45-46.

91. "Biographical Sketch of Benjamin West, Esq....," Port Folio 5 (Oct. 26, 1805): 331-32; (Nov. 2): 347-48; (Nov. 9): 356-57; (Nov. 16): 363-65. Additional items on West during these years appear in Port Folio 2 (Aug. 28, 1802): 270; 3 (Jan. 8, 1803): 15; 3 (Mar. 12. 1803): 86. On Port Folio, see Michael T. Gilmore, "Magazines, Criticism, and Essays." in The Cambridge History of American Literature, ed. Sacvan Bercovitch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 558-72; and Laura Rigal. The American Manufactory: Art, Labor, and the World of Things in the Early Republic (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998), 114-41.

92. "Anecdotes of American Painters: West," Port Folio, 3rd ser., 2 (Oct. 1809): 316-22. A reviewer of William Dunlap's History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States noted the author's correction of the persistent belief among Americans that West had been knighted; The Knickerbocker, or New York Monthly Magazine 4 (Dec. 1, 1834): 492. Dunlap made his contempt for the distinction clear, while implying that West's American sentiments prevented him from accepting an "empty title"--though the evidence did not permit him to state it outright (vol. 1, 72-76). The third biography, "Benjamin West, Esq., President of the Royal Academy," appeared in Port Folio, 3rd ser., 6 (Sept. 1811): 245-57; (Oct. 1811): 329-41; (Nov. 1811): 445-56. See also "From La Belle Assemblee: The Artist--No. IV; A Correct Catalogue of the Works of Benjamin West, Esq., President of the Royal Academy," Port Folio, 3rd ser., 6 (Dec. 1811): 542-55.

93. "The Fine Arts--For the Port Folio: Original Letter from Sir Benjamin West to Charles W. Peale, Esq.," Port Folio, 3rd ser., 3 (Jan. 1810): 8-13; "For the Port Folio" (Mar. 1810): 231-33. Another letter from West--soliciting financial support for Thomas Sully, a son of Philadelphia then studying with him--appeared in vol. 3 (Apr. 1810): 329.

94. Neil Harris's chapter "The Perils of Vision: Art, Luxury and Republicanism," in The Artist in American Society: The Formative Years, 1790-1860 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966), 28-53, concisely presented the issues. For a brief account of contributions to Port Folio by various Adams family members, see Linda K. Kerber and Walter John Morris, "Politics and Literature: The Adams Family and the Port Folio," William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 23 (July 1966): 450-76.