Mr. John Utterson of Fareham, Hampshire

Although the personal history of the sitter of the Fisher portrait is unknown, it is a highly successful work by the famous Anglo-American painter, Benjamin West. John Utterson of Fareham, Hampshire, was not a titled gentleman, but was no doubt a successful man of his time as evidenced by the quality of his dress and by the very fact that he sat for one of London's most fashionable portraitists.

Despite the formality of both the pose and the sitter's dress, there is a straightforwardness and immediacy in the depiction, a signature quality of the artist. West has presented the middle-aged sitter in a half-length format seated frontally in a carved chair with his right hand tucked between the ornate buttons of his vest. The fringed and tasseled section of drapery behind him suggests the interior of a wealthy household. His costume, a matching vest and coat, the latter set off by a velvet collar, is of wool broadcloth, a fabric popular with Quakers. (Edward Maeder, unpublished opinion, Los Angeles County Museum of Art) The shadowed area on his back and shoulders is actually the residue of wig powder. (Ibid) Due to the careful restoration of the painting in 1979 this historic characteristic of wig-wearing has been preserved.

Benjamin West was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania, in 1738. He moved from his birthplace where he had been a student of William Williamson, a minor portraitist of the day, to Philadelphia and established a successful business as a portraitist. In 1660 West traveled to Rome to study the great Italian masters.

West's style was influenced to a great extent by what he saw in Italy, for when he settled in England in 1763 his technique had changed dramatically. He won an immediate success in London as a painter of “Poussin size'' histories; his fame was established with his “Death of General Wolfe,” painted in the grand manner with the figures dressed in modern costumes. The portrait style of this early London period recalls his studies in Italy as well as his contacts with contemporary artists in Rome such as Gavin Hamilton and Anton Mengs. The latter recommended that West study the works of Titian and Veronese as models.

Many of West's early patrons both in Philadelphia and London were his fellow Quakers. This, in addition to the plain dress of Mr. Utterson, may support the suggestion that the sitter was a Quaker. The beautiful rendering of the skin tones, the delicacy of the painting of the eyes and the sensitivity to textures are features of the Fisher portrait which make this an excellent example of West's "Early English" style.

Catalog excerpt from "A Selection of British Paintings,” from the Fisher Gallery Collection (1600 – 1800). Entry by David W. White. (Los Angeles: USC Fisher Museum of Art, 1988), 26.