This portrait is signed and dated, lower right, B. West, 1797. “Presented by Elizh West 1804” hand lettered on the frame, bottom center., Reverend Samuel Preston was an English cleric who never visited America, but nevertheless bequeathed to the Library Company his rich collection of 2,500 illustrated volumes on history, geography, and the arts. It is possible that West induced him to give his valuable collection to the Library Company., Gift of Elizabeth West (Mrs. Benjamin West), 1804., Exhibited in: Newark Museum's exhibition, An Exhibition of American Painting from 1700 to 1900 (1931); the Art Center in West Chester's exhibition, Yesterday in Chester County Art (1936); Pennsylvania Museum of Art's exhibition, Benjamin West, 1738-1820 (1938); Library Company's exhibition, Quarter of a Millennium (1981); Philadelphia Museum of Art's exhibition, Benjamin West in Pennsylvania Collections (1986); Library Company's exhibition, In Living Color: Collecting Color Plate Books (2007)., Library Company Minutes vol. 5, May 6, 1819, p. 57 :"Thomas Sully and John Vaughan, a Committee on behalf of the Academy of Fine Arts having requested the loan of West's picture of Preston to be exhibited in their Hall, it was agreed to, they engaging to return it uninjured at the end of two months."
