Know Thy Self

Most likely a preliminary study for a never-realized history painting, Benjamin West’s wash drawing presents an allegorical vision of London’s Royal Academy of Arts, a professional artists’ organization founded in 1768, as a gathering of learned men from different epochs. Some figures wear classical togas, while others don contemporary wigs and robes. Additional references to enlightenment—including the bright spotlight in the composition’s center and the bust of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, in the background—symbolize the noble endeavors of the institution and its commitment to the classical tradition.