Christ Healing the Sick (a sketch)

1765

Marries Elizabeth Shewell

At St Martin-in-the-Fields West marries Elizabeth Shewell, an American he knew from Philadelphia.

1765–1766

Introductions through Markham: Johnson, Burke, the bishops

William Markham, then headmaster of Westminster School, introduces West to Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke and three prelates — Thomas Newton, Bishop of Bristol, James Johnson, Bishop of Worcester, and Robert Hay Drummond, Archbishop of York; all three commission work from him.

1768

A founder of the Royal Academy of Arts

The Royal Academy comes into being in 1768, with West one of the primary leaders of an opposition group formed out of the Society of Artists of Great Britain; Joshua Reynolds becomes its first president. West had discussed the idea of an academy with George III, to whom Archbishop Drummond had brought him after a subscription for an annuity for the painter failed; the same year he is elected to the American Philosophical Society.

1771

“The Death of General Wolfe” at the Academy

The painting of 1770, which returns to the French and Indian War setting of his 1768 “General Johnson Saving a Wounded French Officer from the Tomahawk of a North American Indian”, is shown at the Royal Academy. Reynolds and other academicians at first condemn the heroes' modern rather than classical dress as an insult to history painting, but the picture is a great success, is copied many times and wins Reynolds's approval in the end — it becomes one of the most frequently reproduced images of the period.

1772

Historical painter to the court

George III appoints West historical painter to the court at an annual fee of £1,000; he holds the post until 1801.

c. 1801

Without royal patronage: large religious paintings

Having lost royal patronage (he held the court post until 1801), West begins a series of large-scale religious works. The first, “Christ Healing the Sick”, intended as a gift to Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, is instead sold for £3,000 to the British Institution, which presents it to the National Gallery; West then makes a copy to send to Philadelphia.