Fidelia and Speranza

Benjamin West

1738 - 1820
Fidelia and Speranza, d.1776
Oil on canvas
53 3/4 x 42 5/8 in

West was the first American-born painter to study abroad. He left Pennsylvania for Rome in 1760, and then went to London in 1763, where he acquired an international reputation for his neoclassical style of history painting.

Here, West portrays a scene from The Faerie Queene, a poem by Edmund Spenser celebrating Christian virtues. Fidelia (Faith), holding the New Testament, and her sister Speranza (Hope) wait for the arrival of the Red Cross Knight. The Knight, representing the human soul, is brought to the House of Holiness by Una (Truth) through the stormy landscape at left. West depicts the two women in classical dress. Their graceful posture and elegant gestures reflect West's admiration of the classical sculpture and work of the Old Masters that he encountered in Europe.

Provenance:

Acquired by the Putnam Foundation, 1969 [1]

Provenance Notes:

[1] The Timken painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1777 (no. 364). John Boydell published, on November 9, 1778, a mezzotint by Valentine Green after the painting. Fidelia and Speranza may be an allegorical portrait, possibly of sisters, of a type that was common during the period. It does not appear in the early lists of West’s work, which is characteristic of his portraits.