The Philosophers Disputing

The Philosophers Disputing

Sold
Reference

2904

Benjamin West, P.R.A. (1738-1820)
Philosophers Disputing

Pen and brown ink and washes over pencil on buff paper
44.4 by 38.7 cm., 17 1/2 by 15 1/4 in.

Provenance:
Anonymous sale, Christie's, 20th November 1979, lot 74;
Erving and Joyce Wolf, New York, their sale, Christie's, 21st November 2007, lot 37;
Private collection until 2024

The figures in the present drawing are based on individual figures in Salvator Rosa's series of `Figurine' etchings. The figure on the left comes from a man with a staff and a gourd (Bartsch no.75), the soldier in the right background is a reverse copy of the left hand figure in an etching of three warriors (Bartsch no.60) and the helmeted figure in the right foreground comes from Bartsch 51. The seated foreground figure comes from Bartsch 51 and other seated figures in the series.