Phillip Medhurst

The Ascension. 1801. Oil on canvas. 49 1/2 ins (125.7300 cms) x 34 ins (86.3600 cms). Berger Collection Educational Trust; gifted to the Denver Art Museum, 2018. The picture was never installed in the Royal Chapel, and West returned to the subject two decades later, producing this picture. As was his practice, he created it as a finished study of the eventual painting. Soon after West completed it, King George appointed a new architect for the Royal Chapel project and the commission was cancelled.