described to them their education, their dexterity with the bow and arrow, the admirable elasticity of their limbs, and how much their active life expands the chest, while the quick breathing of their speed in the chase dilates the nostrils with that apparent consciousness of vigor which is so nobly depicted in the ‘Apollo.’  ‘I have seen them often,’ added he, ’standing in that very attitude, and pursuing with an intense eye the arrow which they had just discharged from the bow,’ The Italians were delighted with this descriptive explanation, and allowed that a better criticism had never been pronounced on the merits of the statue.”

Soon after his arrival in Rome, West painted a portrait of Lord Grantham, which won him considerable reputation.  It was at first attributed to Raphael Meugs, but when the true artist was announced, and the circumstances of his history became known, West found himself suddenly famous, with orders enough to place him at once in comfortable circumstances.  Cardinal Albani and Lord Grantham were very kind to him during his stay in Rome, and Raphael Meugs advised him to make a careful tour of study through the Italian art capitals.  While in Rome he painted two pictures, “Cimon and Iphigenia,” and “Angelica and Medora,” which were well received, and during this period he was elected a member by the Academies of Florence, Bologna, and Parma.  He made the tour advised by Meugs, remaining in Italy several years.  Thence he proceeded to France, where he passed a short time in studying the French masters, after which he went to England, intending to sail from that country for America, where he had left his heart behind him in the keeping of a young Quakeress of Philadelphia.

He reached London in 1763, and while continuing his studies here, whither his reputation had preceded him from Italy, undertook some commissions for Archbishop Drummond and several other church dignitaries.  These attracted general admiration, and his countrymen residing in London were prompt to recognize and proclaim his genius.  He had relatives living in England, so that he was not an entire stranger there.  His success was marked from the first, and his friends urged him to profit by so favorable a beginning, give up his idea of returning to America, and make his permanent home in England.  This he at length decided to do, and devoted himself with increased ardor to his labors.  In two years he considered himself sufficiently well established to send to Philadelphia for his betrothed.  This lady, Miss Elizabeth Shewell, came out to England under the care of his father, and in the same year, 1765, West was married to her in London.  She was a lady of great amiability of character, and by the English was often spoken of as the Philadelphia beauty.