Benjamin West, P.R.A. (1738-1820)

This study is related to the oil painting The Woman clothed with the Sun which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1798, no.232., and is now held at Princeton University Art Gallery. This painting illustrates a passage from Revelations XII and was one of four works commissioned by the novelist, art critic and politician William Beckford which were to be installed in the so-called 'Revelation Chamber' at Fonthill Abbey, where Beckford planned to place his own tomb.