Detroit Institute of Arts 5200 Woodward Avenue Detroit Michigan 48202 Accession Number: 13.11
Date:
1802
Notes:
"American paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts; volume 1: Works by artists born by 1816," New York : Hudson Hills Press, 1991, no. 111.
"Paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts; a checklist of the paintings acquired before June 1965," Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1965.
"American paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts; volume 1: Works by artists born by 1816," New York : Hudson Hills Press, 1991, pg. 244.
Evans, Grose, "Benjamin West and the taste of his times," Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1959, no. 68.
(Lower right:) B. West/1802 signed
The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.
Summary:
Scene with a seated Belsarius (ca. 505-563) as a blind beggar wearing a hood and holding a staff in his left hand. With his right hand he holds the shoulder of a boy standing beside him. The boy holds a placard asking for money for Belsarius.