Sketch for the Demoniac in "Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple"
Date1815
Artist
Benjamin West
(American painter and draftsman, 1738–1820, active in Great Britain)
MediumInk and graphite with wash on paper
Dimensionssheet: 5 1/2 × 3 3/4 in. (14 × 9.5 cm)
Credit LineSamuel and Mary R. Bancroft Memorial, 1935
Object number1935-102
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextThis sketch appears to be a study for the mentally ill child, referred to as "the demoniac" by the artist, in West's painting, Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple, 1817. West produced the painting for the Pennsylvania Hospital, including this figure perhaps to allude to the hospital's history of treating mentally ill patients.
