Benjamin West
Born Springfield, Pa., October 10, 1738. 
Died London, March 11, 1820.

Pharaoh and His Host Lost in the Red Sea , 1792 and after 1800¹
Oil on canvas
39 1/8 x 30 3/4 in. (99.4 x 78 cm)
Museum purchase, 1960.18

Provenance
Bequeathed by Benjamin West to his sons, Raphael (1766–1850) and Benjamin West (b. 1772), 1820; offered to the United States government in 1826; sold by West's sons at auction through George Robins, London, May 1829; bought by Blamise or Blamire for sixty-three pounds. Gooden and Fox, London; to P. & D. Colnaghi, Ltd., London, October 30, 1958; purchased by the Worcester Art Museum, 1960.²

References
West 1804.

Biographical Sketch 1805, 5, no. 46 (November 23, 1805): 364.

Correct Catalogue 1805, 566.

Correct List 1805, 531.

Barlow 1807, 435.

Correct Catalogue 1808, 18.

Galt 1820, II, 229.

West 1823.

West 1828.

Robins 1829, lot 168.

"The Report of the Director" and "Purchases," Worcester Annual Report 1960, ix, xiii.

"La Chronique des Arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 57, no. 1105, supplement (February 1961): 44.

Ruth Davidson, "In the Museums," Antiques 80, no. 5 (November 1961): 466, 468.

Von Erffa 1961, n.p.

Jewish Museum 1963, n.p.

Fogg Art Museum 1965, n.p., cat no. 34.

Carpenter 1966, n.p.

Irwin 1966, 51, 120, pl. 45.

Meyer 1973, 121, 127, 147, 148, 286.

Worcester 1973, 123.

Kraemer 1975, 32–33, cat. no. 51, pl. 30.

Meyer 1975, 260, 261.

BMFA 1976, 36, 40.

Jareckie 1976, 22–23.

Dillenberger 1977, 55, 66, 175, 200, 208, 212, 236.

Teitz 1979, 34–35.

Pressley 1983, 21, 42.

Von Erffa and Staley 1986, 99, 298, 307, 577–81.

Worcester 1994, 184.

Exhibitions
West's Gallery, 1821, cat. no. 63.

West's Gallery, 1822–28, cat. no. 94.

The Hebrew Bible in Christian, Jewish and Muslim Art, Jewish Museum, New York, February 18–March 24, 1963, cat. no. 65.

Sublimity and Sensibility, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass., April 30–May 31, 1965, cat. no. 34.

Art in the Making, Colby College Art Museum, Waterville, Maine, July 14–September 25, 1966, and Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Mass., October 4–October 30, 1966.

The Early Republic: Consolidation of Revolutionary Goals, Worcester Art Museum, March 3–June 30, 1976, cat. pp. 22–23.

John Singleton Copley 1738–1815, Gilbert Stuart 1755–1828, Benjamin West 1738–1820 in America & England, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, July 20–October 17, 1976, cat. no. 29.

American Art from the Collection of the Worcester Art Museum, Amon Carter Museum of Art, Fort Worth, Tex., April 27–June 24, 1979, cat. pp. 34–35.

Revealed Religion: Benjamin West's Commissions for Windsor Castle and Fonthill Abbey, San Antonio Museum of Art, Tex., September 18–November 13, 1983, cat. no. 16.

Notes
1. At the time the Worcester Art Museum purchased the painting it was represented by the seller as The Destruction of the Assyrians by the Angel of the Lord but was correctly identified by Helmut von Erffa during the acquisition process. Louisa Dresser, curator, to Daniel Catton Rich, director, April 20, 1960, object file, Worcester Art Museum. This painting has also been published as The Israelites Having Passed the Red Sea, Moses Stretcheth His Rod Over Pharaoh and His Host, Who Are Overwhelmed by the Waters (Dillenberger 1977, 66); Pharaoh and His Host Drowned in the Red Sea (Correct Catalogue 1805, 566); Pharaoh and His Host in the Red Sea (Barlow 1807, 435); and Pharaoh and His Host Lost in the Red Sea, While Moses Stretches His Rod Over Them (Worcester 1973, 123).

2. Nineteenth-century provenance is from Staley and Von Erffa 1986, 298. Twentieth century owners of the painting are identified in J. Byam Shaw, P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., Ltd., London to Daniel Catton Rich, director of the Worcester Art Museum, May 18, 1960.