Self-portrait of Benjamin West, P.R.A.

West painted this portrait in 1793, a year after his election as President of the Royal Academy. A painter of historical and religious subjects, West alluded to his artistic and intellectual influences by including a cast of the Belvedere Torso (a celebrated ancient Roman marble sculpture) and volumes on Greek and English history in the composition. He has shown himself seated on the President's throne, and Somerset House (home of the RA from 1780 to 1837) is shown in the background, as though West is a nobleman before his stately home.