ORThe Open Room
Digital gallery
Back to the NGA collection
The image shows the upper half of a person's body in a slightly hunched position, with their head turned slightly downward and to one side. The person has curly hair framing their face, with closed eyes and smooth eyebrows. The clothing is loosely draped around their shoulders. Behind the person is a folded wing. The background is simple, drawing focus to the sketched figure and their wing. The drawing has a finished border framing the central image.
Read the visual description

The image shows the upper half of a person's body in a slightly hunched position, with their head turned slightly downward and to one side. The person has curly hair framing their face, with closed eyes and smooth eyebrows. The clothing is loosely draped around their shoulders. Behind the person is a folded wing. The background is simple, drawing focus to the sketched figure and their wing. The drawing has a finished border framing the central image.

National Gallery of Art · Drawing

An Angel

Benjamin West

Medium
pen and brown ink over black chalk on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet: 11.6 × 10.3 cm (4 9/16 × 4 1/16 in.) mount: 21.43 × 16.35 cm (8 7/16 × 6 7/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Accession number
1995.52.196
Credit line
Gift of William B. O'Neal
Time span
1726 to 1750
Department
CG-W
Original NGA record Wikidata

Subjects and terms

  • American
  • angels
  • religious
Provenance

(Sabin Galleries, Ltd., London); purchased by William B. O'Neal, Charlottesville, VA, 1973-1994; gift to NGA, 1995.

Inscription

by later hand, upper left verso of sheet in graphite: 38/2; by later hand, upper right of mount in graphite: 3/4 ÷ / 2 1/2 / 2 3/4; by later hand, lower right of mount in graphite: H/22/1

NGA object ID 76186. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.