{"secondaryobjectnumber":null,"periodterms":[],"creditline":"Museum purchase, Kathleen Compton Sherrerd Fund for American Art","caption":"Benjamin West (1738–1820; born Springfield [now Swarthmore], PA; died London, England), The Woman Clothed with the Sun Fleeth from the Persecution of the Dragon, ca. 1797. Oil on paper laid down on wood panel; 149 × 69 cm, 168.5 × 87.3 × 8.9 cm (frame). 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The Thirtieth April 23–June 16, 1798","isvirtual":true,"begindate":"1798-04-23","enddate":"1798-06-16","uri":"https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/1910"}],"cultures":[],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/1996-62"],"displaytitle":"The Woman Clothed with the Sun Fleeth from the Persecution of the Dragon","displayculture":null,"displaymaker":"Benjamin West, 1738–1820; born Springfield [now Swarthmore], PA; died London, England","captionhtml":"Benjamin West (1738–1820; born Springfield [now Swarthmore], PA; died London, England), <i>The Woman Clothed with the Sun Fleeth from the Persecution of the Dragon</i>, ca. 1797. Oil on paper laid down on wood panel; 149 × 69 cm, 168.5 × 87.3 × 8.9 cm (frame). Museum purchase, Kathleen Compton Sherrerd Fund for American Art (1996-62)","displaydate":"ca. 1797","medium":"Oil on paper laid down on wood panel","media":[{"id":1407,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/1996-62","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"}],"displayperiod":null,"extended_content":false,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"“A Correct List of the Works of Mr. West,” <em>Universal Magazine</em> 3 (1805)","citation":"“A Correct List of the Works of Mr. West,” <em>Universal Magazine</em> 3 (1805), p. 528","date":1805,"id":9723,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/175758798"},{"boilertext":"“A Correct Catalogue of the Works of Benjamin West, Esq. / ... / Mr. West’s House at Windsor. / Pictures painted by Mr. West for his own Collection.... / In the Gallery,” in <em>La Belle Assemblée IV, Supplement </em>(1808)","citation":"“A Correct Catalogue of the Works of Benjamin West, Esq. / ... / Mr. West’s House at Windsor. / Pictures painted by Mr. West for his own Collection.... / In the Gallery,” in <em>La Belle Assemblée IV, Supplement </em>(1808), p. 14","date":1808,"id":9724,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/270992202"},{"boilertext":"John Dillenberger, <em>Benjamin West: The Context of His Life’s Work</em> (San Antonio, Texas: Trinity University Press, 1977)","citation":"John Dillenberger, <em>Benjamin West: The Context of His Life’s Work</em> (San Antonio, Texas: Trinity University Press, 1977), p. 11, fig. 176; pl. 109, p. 150; p. 194, no. 232; p. 213","date":1977,"id":9730,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/311987212"},{"boilertext":"Nancy L. Pressly, <em>Revealed Religion: Benjamin West’s Commissions for Windsor Castle and Fonthill Abbey</em> (San Antonio, Texas: San Antonio Museum of Art, 1983)","citation":"Nancy L. Pressly, <em>Revealed Religion: Benjamin West’s Commissions for Windsor Castle and Fonthill Abbey</em> (San Antonio, Texas: San Antonio Museum of Art, 1983), cat. no. 37; p. 63, fig. 32","date":1983,"id":9731,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/1146243512"},{"boilertext":"Helmut von Erffa and Allen Staley, <em>The Paintings of Benjamin West</em> (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1986)","citation":"Helmut von Erffa and Allen Staley, <em>The Paintings of Benjamin West</em> (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1986), p. 393-394, no. 405","date":1986,"id":9732,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/993398529"},{"boilertext":"<em>The exhibition of the Royal Academy, MDCCXCVIII. </em>The thirtieth. (London: The Royal Academy of Arts, 1798)","citation":"<em>The exhibition of the Royal Academy, MDCCXCVIII. </em>The thirtieth. (London: The Royal Academy of Arts, 1798), no. 232","date":1798,"id":9736,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/1191001934"},{"boilertext":"John Galt, <em>The life, studies, and works of Benjamin West, esq., president of the Royal academy of London, composed from materials furnished by himself</em>, (London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies; [etc., etc.], 1820).","citation":"John Galt, <em>The life, studies, and works of Benjamin West, esq., president of the Royal academy of London, composed from materials furnished by himself</em>, (London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies; [etc., etc.], 1820)., Appendix II, p. 219","date":1820,"id":3557,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/314919593"},{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1996,\" <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University</em> 56, no. 1/2 (1997): p. 75-115.","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1996,\" <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University</em> 56, no. 1/2 (1997): p. 75-115., p. 75 (illus.)","date":1997,"id":3051,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774760"},{"boilertext":"John Wilmerding et al., <i>American Art in the Princeton University Art Museum: volume 1: drawings and watercolors</i>,<i> </i>(Princeton: Princeton University Art Museum; New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 2004)","citation":"John Wilmerding et al., <i>American Art in the Princeton University Art Museum: volume 1: drawings and watercolors</i>,<i> </i>(Princeton: Princeton University Art Museum; New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 2004), p. 65, fig. 3","date":2004,"id":420,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/57236887"},{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 231","date":2013,"id":1994,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/865020505"},{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), 232 (illus.)","date":2007,"id":474,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/191864564"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"American Art","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199321,"term":"European Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199325,"term":"North American Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199327,"term":"Prints and Drawings","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1700-1800","dateend":1802,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"The Woman Clothed with the Sun Fleeth from the Persecution of the Dragon","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"","objectnumber":"1996-62","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"Part of a commission for the English eccentric William Beckford’s Revelation Chamber at Fonthill Abbey, his fantastic Gothic Revival folly in Wiltshire, these richly developed oil sketches are—as the arched shape of one suggests—likely studies for stained-glass windows. Each illustrates a passage from the New Testament’s apocalyptic Book of Revelation, in which God vanquishes the powers of evil and ushers in a righteous messianic kingdom. Beckford’s fabulous wealth derived from several Jamaican sugar plantations, at which three thousand people were enslaved. He paid West a substantial retainer to assist his designs for Fonthill, including the planned Chamber, with walls five feet thick, in order to receive his family’s coffins. However, the chamber disappeared from Beckford’s evolving plans, and Fonthill Abbey, declared finished in 1813, was demolished following the third collapse of its hastily constructed three-hundred-foot tower.\n","remarks":"AMER1_23-27_WLA   Day 1 Cataloguing- group chat for 2021-42, 1996-62, 2020-685"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Handbook Entry","textentryhtml":"\r\nAmong the several works at Princeton by the expatriate painter Benjamin West, who ascended to the apex of British art circles and famously assisted the development of American artists visiting London, are images derived from each of his — and from late-eighteenth-century academic &shy;painting’s — &shy;principal preoccupations: subjects drawn from mythological, historical, and religious sources. Although its fantastic imagery suggests the first category, <I>Woman Clothed with the Sun</I> in fact closely illustrates a passage from the New Testament’s apocalyptic book of Revelation, wherein a woman, probably representing Israel, delivers a child from the pursuit of a dragon, said to represent Christ and Satan, respectively: \"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. And behold a great red dragon .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.\" This work is part of a commission for William Beckford’s unrealized Revelation Chamber at Fonthill Abbey, his fabulous Gothic Revival folly in Wiltshire. As its arched shape suggests, it is likely a study for a stained-glass window. </P></SPAN>","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"Commissioned by William Beckford, Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire (England), ca. 1797 [1]; [Phillips, Fonthill Abbey Sale, 25th day, 11 October 1823, one of four paintings with Revelation subjects, lots 152, 153, 349, and 350 [2]]. Acquired at an unspecified time by Sir Samuel Bagster Boulton (1830-1918), who kept it either at Coppeld Hall, Totteridge, or 189 St. James’s Court, Buckingham Gate, London; donated by his children to St. Andrew’s Church, Totteridge, 1918 until at least 1977 [3]; [Sotheby’s Parke-Bernet, London, July 9, 1980]. [Noortman & Brod, Ltd., New York (NY), by 1981 [4]]. [Hirschl and Adler Galleries, New York (NY), by 1986 [5]]; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum,","remarks":null}],"datebegin":1792,"sortnumber":"1996   62","published_date":"2026-03-05 09:21:01.254403","objectid":46966,"dimensions":"149 × 69 cm (58 11/16 × 27 3/16 in.)\r\nframe: 168.5 × 87.3 × 8.9 cm (66 5/16 × 34 3/8 × 3 1/2 in.)","on_view":true}