Treaty of Paris (painting)

Last updated

Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris by Benjamin West 1783.jpg
Treaty of Paris, by Benjamin West, 1783 (left to right: John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, and William Temple Franklin)
Artist Benjamin West
Year1783
MediumOil on canvas
Movement History painting
Dimensions72.4 cm× 92.1 cm(28.5 in× 36.3 in)
Location Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, Winterthur, Delaware, US

American Commissioners of the Preliminary Peace Agreement with Great Britain, also known as the Treaty of Paris, is an unfinished 1783 painting by Benjamin West depicting the United States delegation that negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which formally ended the American Revolutionary War. Peace negotiations began in Paris on June 25, 1783, and the eventual signing of the treaty took place on September 3, 1783 at the Hotel York at 56 rue Jacob. The green drapery in the painting's background and the distant landscape with a classical colonnaded building emphasize the scene's formality. [1]

John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, and William Temple Franklin (presented from left to right) are depicted early during the negotiation process (Laurens and the younger Franklin were not present at the treaty's signing). Benjamin Franklin was the only U.S. delegate who did not pose in person; West drew his likeness from an engraving. [1]

Meant to be depicted on the right, the British delegation comprising representative Richard Oswald and his secretary, Caleb Whitefoord, declined to pose. Britain had no desire to commemorate its defeat, and Oswald was reportedly ugly and blind in one eye and consequently reluctant to be depicted. [1] The conspicuous absence of the British commissioners evokes the "tentative nature of the peace" and the "deep geopolitical antagonisms" that persisted after the Revolution. [2] West never completed his painting. According to John Quincy Adams, West intended to present the painting as a gift to Congress. [3]

The painting, a gift of Henry Francis du Pont, is in the permanent collection of the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, du Pont's former home in Winterthur, Delaware. Du Pont had purchased the work from the J. P. Morgan collection in 1948. [4] The painting was displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2016 as part of an exhibition on unfinished paintings. [3]

In 1983, to celebrate the bicentennial of the Treaty of Paris, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp inspired by the painting. However, many details were changed: Laurens and William Franklin are removed, Jay now hunches over the table to Franklin's left, and the right side of the painting—unfinished in West's original—is filled in with the back of British signatory David Hartley. [5] Historian Stanley Weintraub called the stamp "a travesty of history and a mischievous misuse of West's canvas." [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Paris (1783)</span> Agreement ending the American Revolutionary War

The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States on September 3, 1783, officially ended the American Revolutionary War and recognized the Thirteen Colonies, which had been part of colonial British America, to be free, sovereign and independent states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Alliance (1778)</span> Military alliance between the revolutionary United States and France

The Treaty of Alliance, also known as the Franco-American Treaty, was a defensive alliance between the Kingdom of France and the United States formed amid the American Revolutionary War with Great Britain. It was signed by delegates of King Louis XVI and the Second Continental Congress in Paris on February 6, 1778, along with the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and a secret clause providing for the entry of other European allies; together these instruments are sometimes known as the Franco-American Alliance or the Treaties of Alliance. The agreements marked the official entry of the United States on the world stage, and formalized French recognition and support of U.S. independence that was to be decisive in America's victory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin West</span> 18th and 19th-century English painter

Benjamin West was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as The Death of Nelson, The Death of General Wolfe, the Treaty of Paris, and Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky.

<i>Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences</i> 1792 painting by Samuel Jennings

Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences, or The Genius of America Encouraging the Emancipation of the Blacks (1792) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the American artist Samuel Jennings. Held in the permanent collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia, this work is the earliest known American painting promoting abolitionism in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">France in the American Revolutionary War</span>

French involvement in the American Revolutionary War of 1775–1783 began in 1776 when the Kingdom of France secretly shipped supplies to the Continental Army of the Thirteen Colonies upon its establishment in June 1775. France was a long-term historical rival with the Kingdom of Great Britain, from which the Colonies were attempting to separate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Model Treaty</span> 1776 template for future American international relations

The Model Treaty, or the Plan of 1776, was a template for commercial treaties that the United States planned to make with foreign powers during the American Revolution against Great Britain. It was drafted by the Continental Congress to secure economic resources for the war effort, and to serve as an idealistic guide for future relations and treaties between the new American government and other nations. The Model Treaty thus marked the revolution's turning point towards seeking independence, and is subsequently considered a milestone in U.S. foreign relations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Temple Franklin</span> American diplomat (1760–1823)

William Temple Franklin, known as Temple Franklin, was an American diplomat and real estate speculator who is best known for his involvement with the American diplomatic mission in France during the American Revolutionary War. Beginning at the age of 16, he served as secretary to his grandfather Benjamin Franklin, who negotiated and agreed to the Franco-American Alliance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwestern Confederacy</span> Confederation of Native American tribes in the Great Lakes region

The Northwestern Confederacy, or Northwestern Indian Confederacy, was a loose confederacy of Native Americans in the Great Lakes region of the United States created after the American Revolutionary War. Formally, the confederacy referred to itself as the United Indian Nations, at their Confederate Council. It was known infrequently as the Miami Confederacy since many contemporaneous federal officials overestimated the influence and numerical strength of the Miami tribes based on the size of their principal city, Kekionga.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peace of Paris (1783)</span> 1783 treaties which ended the American Revolutionary War for all involved parties

The Peace of Paris of 1783 was the set of treaties that ended the American Revolutionary War. On 3 September 1783, representatives of King George III of Great Britain signed a treaty in Paris with representatives of the United States of America—commonly known as the Treaty of Paris (1783)—and two treaties at Versailles with representatives of King Louis XVI of France and King Charles III of Spain—commonly known as the Treaties of Versailles (1783). The previous day, a preliminary treaty had been signed with representatives of the States General of the Dutch Republic, but the final treaty which ended the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War was not signed until 20 May 1784; for convenience, however, it is included in the summaries below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sierra Leone–United States relations</span> Bilateral relations

Sierra Leone – United States relations are bilateral relations between Sierra Leone and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Oswald (merchant)</span> Scottish merchant, slave trader and diplomat

Richard Oswald was a Scottish merchant, slave trader and diplomat. During the American Revolution, he served as an advisor to the North ministry on trade regulations and the best way to respond to the American War of Independence. Oswald is best known for being one of the British peace commissioners who negotiated the Peace of Paris in 1782.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Matthias Gérard de Rayneval</span> French diplomat and government minister

Joseph-Mathias Gérard de Rayneval, was a French diplomat and government minister of the Ancien Régime.

Diplomacy was central to the outcome of the American Revolutionary War and the broader American Revolution. Before the outbreak of armed conflict in April 1775, the Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain had initially sought to resolve their disputes peacefully from within the British political system. Once open hostilities began, the war developed an international dimension, as both sides engaged in foreign diplomacy to further their goals, while governments and nations worldwide took interest in the geopolitical and ideological implications of the conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State</span> Set of rooms in Washington, DC

The Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the U.S. Department of State constitute forty-two principal rooms and offices where the secretary of state conducts the business of modern diplomacy. Located on the seventh and eighth floors of the Harry S Truman Building in Washington, D.C., the diplomatic reception rooms contain one of the nation’s foremost museum collections of American fine and decorative arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Wright (American painter)</span> American painter

Joseph Wright was an American portrait painter and sculptor. He painted life portraits of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, and was a designer of early U.S. coinage. Wright was President Washington's original choice for Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint, but died at age 37, before being confirmed to that position.

<i>Washington at Verplancks Point</i> 1790 painting by John Trumbull

Washington at Verplanck's Point is a full-length portrait in oil painted in 1790 by the American artist John Trumbull of General George Washington at Verplanck's Point on the North River in New York during the American Revolutionary War. The background depicts the September 14, 1782 review of Continental Army troops Washington staged there as an honor for the departing French commander Comte de Rochambeau and his army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diplomacy of John Adams</span>

John Adams (1735–1826) was an American Founding Father who served as one of the most important diplomats on behalf of the new United States during the American Revolution. He served as minister to the Kingdom of France and the Dutch Republic and then helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris to end the American Revolutionary War.

<i>George Washington</i> (Trumbull, 1790) 1790 painting by John Trumbull

George Washington is a large full-length oil painted by American artist John Trumbull in 1790.

<i>Captain John Purves and His Wife</i> Painting by Henry Benbridge

Captain John Purves and His Wife, Eliza Anne Pritchard, is an oil-on-canvas portrait created by American painter Henry Benbridge (1743–1812). It was painted in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1775. A bequest from Henry Francis du Pont, the painting is held in the permanent collection of the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library.

<i>Audience Given by the Trustees of Georgia to a Delegation of Creek Indians</i> Painting by William Verelst

Audience Given by the Trustees of Georgia to a Delegation of Creek Indians is an oil-on-canvas group portrait created by English painter William Verelst (1704–1752). It was painted in London in 1734 or 1735. A bequest from Henry Francis du Pont, the painting is held in the permanent collection of the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. The painting depicts a Lower Creek Yamacraw delegation meeting with the governing body of the English Province of Georgia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hout, Nico van (2012). The Unfinished Painting . New York: Abrams. pp. 140–141. ISBN   978-94-6130-060-7 via Internet Archive.
  2. Nicol, Heather Nora (2015). The Fence and the Bridge: Geopolitics and Identity Along the Canada-US Border . Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p. 40. ISBN   978-1-55458-971-5 via Internet Archive.
  3. 1 2 "American Commissioners of the Preliminary Peace Negotiations with Great Britain". Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2016. Archived from the original on 2022-08-16. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  4. "American Commissioners of the Preliminary Peace Negotiations with Great Britain". Winterthur Museum Collection. Archived from the original on 2022-08-16. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  5. "20c Signing of Treaty of Paris single". postalmuseum.si.edu. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
  6. Weintraub, Stanley (2005). Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire: 1775–1783. New York: Free Press. pp. xvii. ISBN   0-7432-2687-9.