LACMA

ShopMembershipMyLACMATickets
LACMA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
info@lacma.org
(323) 857-6000
Sign up to receive emails
Subscribe
© Museum Associates 2026
  • About LACMA
  • Jobs
  • Building LACMA
  • Host An Event
  • Unframed
  • Press
  • FAQs
  • Log in to MyLACMA
  • Privacy Policy
© Museum Associates 2026
Collections

Benjamin West
Thetis Bringing the Armor to Achilles1804

On view:
Geffen Galleries, Classical Revivals in Europe and America
Oil painting of three classical figures: a bare-chested man in a red cloak receives a plumed helmet from a crowned, semi-nude woman, while a second woman reclines on a draped bed to the left

Benjamin West, Thetis Bringing the Armor to Achilles, 1804, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift from the family of Bernice West Beyers, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Artist or Maker
Benjamin West
United States, Pennsylvania, Springfield, active England, 1738-1820
Title
Thetis Bringing the Armor to Achilles
Place Made
United States
Date Made
1804
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
27 x 20 in. (68.6 x 50.8 cm) Framed: 32 1/2 × 26 × 3 1/2 in. (82.55 × 66.04 × 8.89 cm)
Credit Line
Gift from the family of Bernice West Beyers
Accession Number
M.88.182
Classification
Paintings
Collecting Area
American Art
Curatorial Notes
A self-taught artist from Pennsylvania, Benjamin West was among the first American-born painters to achieve international recognition. Settling in London in 1763, he ascended to the highest echelons of British painting to become the president of the Royal Academy of Arts. In this work, which depicts a moment from Homer’s Iliad, West combines two popular subjects in Neoclassical art: a man sacrificing his life for his country and the mourning of a lost hero.
Selected Bibliography
  • Erffa, Helmut von, and Allen Staley. The Paintings of Benjamin West. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1986.