Sacred and Secular Spectacles: Benjamin West's Scriptural Paintings

1 Sacred and Secular Spectacles: Benjamin West's Scriptural Paintings By Thomas Ardill, 2016 Paper written for the Ecclesiastical Art seminar, organised by the British Art Network and held at Westminster Abbey and Tate Britain on 26 February 2016. Slides have been omitted, but hyperlinks are provided for images where possible. 1. Benjamin West, Sketch for the "Installation of Christ Rejected by the Jews", 1814, 1813, pen and brown ink on paper (The Morgan Library): http://www.themorgan.org/drawings/item/143339 In exhibiting historical works of ecclesiastical art, curators and custodians often attempt to replicate, take inspiration from, or at least point towards the original conditions in which an item was displayed, in the hope of indicating its original function, and capturing the spirit in which it was first seen. In many cases, however, the location and setting in which such works first appeared represent only one of several historical possibilities. Between the 1780s and the 1820s, religious paintings by Benjamin West appeared in a range of sacred and secular settings. Often these were not the locations for which they were originally conceived. As a result, it is difficult to draw distinctions between ecclesiastical art and exhibition pi tu es i West s oeu e. Furthermore, his church and chapel pictures were often conceived as offering their viewers a spectacle of aesthetic delight, while his gallery pictures were observed to hold a strong appeal to those of a highly pious persuasion. This ambiguity has provided some of West s s iptu al pai ti gs ith a fle i ilit that has e su ed thei su i al. In this paper, I would like to suggest that by being open, both to the aesthetic and the eligious pote tial of West s spe ta ula imagery, curators today might be able to give some of his neglected works a new lease of life, while remaining true to the spirit of their historical function. I will take Christ Healing the Sick as a case study, and suggest that the complicated history of the o k s eatio , e hi itio a d e eptio ight offe suggestio s fo ho Tate could display its version of the painting, which currently resides in storage, having been badly damaged by the flood of 1928. 2. Design for a Wall of the Chapel of Revealed Religion, c.1780, Watercolour, 38.7 x 56.5 cm, Yale Center for British Art (Paul Mellon Collection): http://collections.britishart.yale.edu/vufind/Record/1666263 Christ Healing the Sick was first conceived by West in about 1780 as a panel for a grand pictorial s he e illust ati g the p og ess of ‘e ealed ‘eligio commissioned by George III for a new chapel at Windsor Castle. A plan of the north wall of the chapel indicates how it might have fitted in to the scheme as a whole. 3. (detail) Within this highly compressed Gospel history, the subject sta ds i fo the hole of Ch ist s ea thl ministry. Contextualised by the broader scriptural theme, the purpose of the design is clearly doctrinal and evangelical. 4. Christ Healing the Sick study, c.1780-1, oil on canvas, 90.5 x 69.8cm (Fitzwilliam Museum): http://webapps.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explorer/index.php?oid=4021 2 The chapel, however, was never built, and in 1801 West was ordered to cease work on his designs. Around this time, however, he was presented with a new opportunity to produce a picture for a high profile commission when the managers of the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia asked him to make a donation to the institution. West decided to paint a new and very large version of Christ Healing the Sick. 5. Benjamin West, Sketch for Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple, c.1794–1801, oil on paper mounted on canvas, 74.5 x 117.5 cm (M.H. de Young Memorial Museum San Francisco): http://art.famsf.org/benjamin-west/christ-healing-sick-606 The artist felt that this subject would be a alogous to the situatio , as it ould tea h Ma a alua le lesso i seei g his ‘edee e heali g the ise ies of life. He also hoped that the work ight p o ide ate ial aid to the i stitutio ei g pla ed i a special room to which the public could be charged admission. 6. Benjamin West, Christ Healing the Sick, 1815, oil on canvas, 305 x 457 cm (Pennsylvania Hospital): http://news.pennmedicine.org/blog/2016/02/maintaining-a-masterpiece-at-pennsylvaniahospital.html Follo i g West s ad i e, a spe ial pi tu e house was constructed at Pennsylvania Hospital in 1817, attracting 30,000 paying visitors in the first year and generating, over the following 25 years, enough money to repay the costs of the building and generate an additional $15,000. In moving from a sacred to a secular setting the spiritual and artistic significance and purpose of Christ Healing the Sick inevitably changed. Rather than displaying the characteristics of the New Testament era, it served, in its new setting, to exemplify the Christian and pubic virtues of benevolence towards the sick (and thus to encourage further generosity). Instead of standing as a monument to the patronage of King George, it stood as a tribute to West, both as a donor, and as the founding father of a new American school of history painters. While the new owners of the work therefore made very different demands upon it, the design proved flexible enough to make the transition rather smoothly, ensuring that it continued to be highly regarded in both religious and artistic terms. British Institution The canvas that finally reached America in 1817, however, was not in fact the one that West had begun painting in 1801. That one remained in England where it underwent a more drastic repositioning of its public function resulting in a more fractured relationship between its artistic and religious reception. 7. Charles Heath after Benjamin West, Christ healing the sick in the temple, 1822, engraving on paper (British Museum): http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId =1644099&partId=1&searchText=christ+healing+the+sick+in+the+temple&page=1 West completed that work in 1811, whereupon he was persuaded to relinquish his gift and sell it to the patrons of the British Institution, who planned to hold it in trust for the nation until a National Gallery was built to house it permanently. While this was clearly a usurpatio of West s charitable intentions, and it would deprive the Pennsylvania Hospital of the gift until the replacement could be completed, British commentators made no apology. In fact the purchase was celebrated as a triumphal prize for the nation. The author 3 of a Descriptive Catalogue that appeared to accompany the exhibition described the picture as the pola sta of B itish a t, ele ati g the fa t that th ough the ge e osit of the su s i e s the o k as to e etai ed i the ou t , i stead of being sent, as intended at first, to adorn and illu i ate a othe he isphe e . By presenting British patronage as an act of philanthropy an effective means was found to justify the purchase and reposition the painting in its new role as a British masterpiece and national cultural asset. In this new guise, the religious subject of the work was incidental to the artistic aims of the British Institution, which were to promote the work of native artists, especially history painters. Christ Healing the Sick, it was hoped, would contribute towards this end by offering younger artists a model for emulation, and a hope of future patronage. It was also anticipated that it would direct the pu li s taste to a ds g a d a ner history painting, generate support for the Institution, and raise funds for future prizes and purchases. The aesthetic qualities of the work were emphasized in the catalogue which compared the painting to the old aste s a d des i ed the o k u de the headi gs of I e tio , Co positio , Design and Colouring , but paid relatively little attention to the moral or spiritual implications of the subject. Despite this emphasis in the official literature, however, other writers did acknowledge the religious significance of the painting and encouraged a more spiritually-minded response. The Universal Magazine, fo e a ple, ote that the o k i p esses a eligious a e o the i d, hi h, e elie e, ust e se si l felt e e eholde . A rival descriptive catalogue was also issued which was almost exclusively concerned with the scriptural subject of the painting, to which the author expressed a highly-charged response. Pall Mall Recognising the role played by the emotional appeal of his biblical subjects in drawing a crowd, West painted ever larger and more dramatic episodes from scripture, which he set up in his own charging exhibition on Pall Mall from 1814. 8. Joh le Keu afte Geo ge Catte ole, West's Pi tu e Galle : Ne a St. Lo do , e g a i g, Magazine of the Fine Arts, 1821 (British Museum): http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId =3408427&partId=1&people=117801&peoA=117801-2-60&page=1 This e g a i g of the e hi itio of West s pi tu e ou ted i the a tist s ho e afte his death gives a sense of how the Pall Mall exhibition might have looked. It was dominated by the huge canvases of Christ Rejected, Christ Healing the Sick, and Death on the Pale Horse which were accompanied by the smaller monochrome oil sketches of designs for the Windsor Chapel paintings. In fact, the Reverend Langford, who independently published a pamphlet for the paintings, drew a direct line of descent f o the Ki g s pat o age to the e hi itio , glossi g o e the fa t that the o igi al o issio had been cancelled, and that West was now acting as his own commercial showman. Such an exhibition, wrote La gfo d, ust e dee ed of g eat i po ta e to so iet […] as to affo d the pleasi g prospect of the most extensive propagation of revealed religion; from which must necessarily flow an increasing degree of liberal sentiments and rectitude of conduct, with every conceivable good that a ki d a desi e. I o t ast, the efo e, to the B itish I stitutio s emphasis on artistic taste and education, Langford and others were principally interested in the new exhibition for its potential moral and evangelical effects on the nation. I deed, La gfo d e plai ed that he had ade o atte pt to des i e the 4 feats of art, […], being persuaded that it would add but little pleasure to the generality of spectators; and that artists, amateurs, and pat o s […], will upon inspection, perceive such master-strokes of ge ius, a d su h e elle e of e e utio , as def des iptio . Two distinct audiences were therefore conceived as e isti g fo West s works: the artists, connoisseurs and critics who were supposedly concerned with matters of art, and the so-called ge e alit of spe tato s ho e e said to ha e little i te est i su h atte s, but were apparently deeply affected by the moral and emotional implications of the scriptural subject. National Gallery 9. West s Pi tu es i the Natio al Galle , Penny Magazine, 23 June 1838: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=E1oFAAAAQAAJ&dq=penny%20magazine%201838&pg=PA236 #v=onepage&q&f=false While this brought West both critical respect and popular admiration in the late 1810s, it subsequently proved problematic when Christ Healing the Sick went to the National Gallery in 1826. Seen alongside the old masters, the painting struck criti s as i fe io . To o pa e it ith the Italia pi tu es of the galle ould e i idious , ote the iti of the New Monthly Magazine. And yet, the picture continued to draw the biggest crowds. This caused the German art critic, Gustav Friedrich Waage , to o lude i 1838 that the e is ot et a ge ui e feeling for historical painting [in England] The Penny Magazine, which quoted the remark, tended to agree. Commenting o the u i e sal ad i atio fo the pai ti g, the ite a ed that e ust test the ad i atio the ge e al ha a te , ha its, a d feeli gs of the people ho ad i e. Thus Christ Healing the Sick as said to appeal to the o al a d eligious ha a te of the E glish people, hose s patheti feeli gs fo a t a d et hed ess […] a so eti es e oused i to unreflecting enthusiasm. Part of the problem was that the religious enthusiasm of the crowd was no longer counterbalanced by the artistic enthusiasm of connoisseurs and critics. This left the admiring public – much expanded by free admittance – open to the charge of philistinism. Furthermore, the National Gallery was supposed to be a Temple to a t, ot God. The o d s p eo upatio ith the eligious a d o al implications of the subject therefore risked suggesting that West, the public, the National Gallery a d the B itish I stitutio s Di e to s had all failed i thei respective responsibilities to British art. Conclusion The story of Christ Healing the Sick up to the 1830s is a reminder that histories of scriptural paintings are not always straight forward. Their purposes change depending upon the priorities of their owners and others stakeholders, and their reception often alters over history, being mediated and contested by their creators, owners and various third parties. Finally, we are reminded that spectators can be resistant to the official function and authorised status of artworks, finding their own meanings and sources of satisfaction. Lessons for curators This presents the current owners of religious paintings with several questions relating to both art and religion. Should they seek to represent the former function of such works – and if so, which pe iod of a o k s life the should seek to ep ese t? Should ustodia s e a e thei o institutional and historical context as an opportunity to add to the ha gi g histo of that o k s use and to enable fresh responses by modern spectators? And finally, how can divergent responses to religious paintings be catered for without being condescending to sacred or secular interests. 5 10. Benjamin West, Devout Men Taking the Body of St. Stephen, 1776, 549 x 305 cm (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston): http://www.mfa.org/collections/conservation/conservation-in-action/benjaminwest The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is currently facing these questions having recently acquired West s la ge pai ti g, Devout Men Taking the Body of St Stephen, which formerly hung in the church of St Stephe s Wal ook i the Cit of Lo do . For the moment, the museum has found a novel, though temporary, means of engaging visitors with a study of the physical properties of the work a d West s pai ti g te h i ue displaying it i the Co se atio i A tio galle . Once the process has finished the museum will have to decide if a d ho to ala e the o k s e ole as a gallery picture with an explanation of its former use as an altarpiece. 11. Christ Healing the Sick, damaged [no image] And what should Tate do with its flood-damaged version of Christ Healing the Sick? – a work that it has never shown since it was transferred from the National Gallery in 1921. For many years the question was moot as the work was thought to be beyond repair. It is now known, however, that the worst-looking parts of the canvas are the result of bloomed varnish, and that by removing it most of the picture would be revealed in a relatively good condition. The example of the Museum of Fine Arts therefore offers one possibility, as the size of the canvas and the dramatic transformation that we can anticipate would result from conservation would make Christ Healing the Sick the ideal candidate for a public display of the conservation process at Tate. After that it could resume the role that the British Institution s Di e to s intended by being shown alongside other works of British art. With hindsight we might conclude that its influence has been less significant than they would have hoped. Nevertheless, the case might be made that as a highly significant example of the grand manner ambitions of certain artists and patrons in the early nineteenth century, it deserves a place in Tate s Walk Th ough B itish A t . 12. Henry Thomson, The Raising of Jairus’s Daughter, 1820, 241 x 299 cm (Tate): http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/thomson-the-raising-of-jairus-daughter-t13558 He e e see He Tho so s ‘aisi g of Jai us s Daughte , restored and accessioned by Tate in 2012, fulfilling this role. Su h a o te t a ot do justi e, ho e e , to the o k s o igi s as a pai ti g fo a hapel, o to the fact that for many of its nineteenth-century spectators, the picture was of at least equal interest as a scriptural drama as it was as an academic masterpiece. 13. Benjamin West, Sketch for the installation of Christ Rejected, 1813, 1814, pen and brown ink on paper, 36.5 x 51.9 cm (Pierpont Morgan Library): [see link in slide 1] This sketch by West, illustrating how Christ Rejected might be shown at the Pall Mall exhibition, shows that a special curtained and cordoned-off area, lit from above, created a proto-cinematic presentation of his works, which served to concentrate the attention of spectators. When the artist and diarist Joseph Farington visited the exhibition, he remarked that the 80 spectators he saw there appea ed to e i p essed ith u h a e the su je t. It as like a s all o g egatio i a Church, he wrote. My final suggestion is therefore that Tate or some other institution might be able to inspire in contemporary spectators something of that awe by showing the work in a theatrical manner. 6 14. John Martin, Last Judgement Triptych, 1851–53 (Tate). Installation by Uninvited Guests and Fuel, in collaboration with Lewis Gibson and with animation by Stephen Gray, John Martin: Apocalypse exhibition, Tate Britain, 2011: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm4d7ZiXP1k This as ho Tate hose to sho Joh Ma ti s Last Judgement triptych at the exhibition of 2011, using video projection and recorded sound to bring the spectacle up to modern expectations. This created a visual novelty that was different from, but arguably somewhat equivalent to that which nineteenth-century audiences must have experienced, while dramatizing the biblical narrative in order to draw attention to the spiritual awe that was once inspired by these pictures. 15. Display suggestions [no image] In the case of Christ Healing the Sick, any of these three suggestions might prove prohibitively expensive, especially in these times of limited funding and stretched budgets. (There are, however, also other candidates at Tate and elsewhere that might also warrant conservation and display, such as Be ja i ‘o e t Ha do s Raising of Lazarus.) In any case, I hope to have made the point that by being alert to the long and complex histories of religious paintings, we find a number of suggestions for ways in which aspects of their former religious and aesthetic functions might be demonstrated and made interesting to audiences today. END For references and more information please see my doctoral thesis: Between God, Art and Mammon, Religious Painting as a public spectacle in Britain, c.1800-1832, unpublished MS, Courtauld Institute, 2016. A copy is available at the Courtauld Institute library and by contacting the author.