This self-portrait by Benjamin West is the first miniature painted in watercolor on ivory by an American-born artist. Lacking confidence in his ability to keep the watercolor from forming puddles on the slippery surface, he cautiously applied individual dots, betraying a lack of sophisticated technique. In 1758 or 1759, the struggling young painter offered his self-portrait to Elizabeth Steele of Philadelphia, along with a proposal of marriage. She accepted the love token but not the hand of the man who painted it, because her mother did not approve of West’s “intended profession.” Soon afterward, West left America for good, finally settling in London, where he became the most widely recognized American artist of his generation.

More than sixty years after Elizabeth Steele rejected West’s proposal, her son-in-law John Cook arrived at the London studio of the successful, happily married artist. By way of introduction, Cook presented the miniature. West declared, “Well I remember it. I was then 18 years old, and there is something more about [it] you may not know, and that is we were very much in love with each other.” In accordance with the artist’s wishes, Cook had the silver case containing the portrait inscribed on the reverse: “Benjn West. Aged 18. Painted by himself in the year 1756. & presented to Miss Steele. of Philadelphia.” A potent symbol of thwarted love, the miniature remained in the possession of only two families, first Elizabeth Steele’s and then Benjamin West’s, for about 175 years. Yet the watercolor-on-ivory portrait West painted had significance beyond its purpose as a love token, for it heralded an art form that was to become increasingly popular in the North American colonies.