''American Commissioners of the Preliminary Peace Agreement with Great Britain'', also known as the ''Treaty of Paris'', is a 1783 unfinished painting by

Benjamin West Benjamin West, (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as '' The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the '' Treaty of Paris'', and '' Benjamin Franklin Drawin ...

depicting the United States delegation that negotiated the 1783

Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France: Treaties 1200s and 1300s * Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade * Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France * Trea ...

, which formally ended the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. Peace negotiations began in Paris on June 25, 1783, and the eventual signing of the treaty took place on September 3, 1783 at the Hotel York at ''56 rue Jacob''. The green drapery in the painting's background and the distant landscape with a classical colonnaded building emphasize the scene's formality.

John Jay John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, patriot, diplomat, abolitionist, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served as the second governor of New York and the first ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

Henry Laurens Henry Laurens (December 8, 1792) was an American Founding Father, merchant, slave trader, and rice planter from South Carolina who became a political leader during the Revolutionary War. A delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Laure ...

, and

William Temple Franklin William Temple Franklin Jr, known as Temple Franklin, (February 22, 1760, in London – May 25, 1823, in Paris) was an American diplomat and real estate speculator. He is best known for his involvement with the American diplomatic mission in Fra ...

(presented from left to right) are depicted early during the negotiation process (Laurens and the younger Franklin were not present at the treaty's signing). Benjamin Franklin was the only U.S. delegate who did not pose in person; West drew his likeness from an engraving. Meant to be depicted on the right, the British delegation comprising representative

Richard Oswald Richard Oswald (5 November 1880 – 11 September 1963) was an Austrian film director, producer, screenwriter, and father of German-American film director Gerd Oswald. Early career Richard Oswald, born in Vienna as Richard W. Ornstein, began h ...

and his secretary,

Caleb Whitefoord Caleb Whitefoord (1734 – 25 January 1810) was a Scottish merchant, diplomat, and political satirist. Life He was born in Edinburgh in 1734, probably in the family home of Whitefoord House on the Canongate, the illegitimate son of Colonel Cha ...

, declined to pose. Britain had no desire to commemorate its defeat, and Oswald was reportedly ugly and blind in one eye and consequently reluctant to be depicted. The conspicuous absence of the British commissioners evokes the "tentative nature of the peace" and the "deep geopolitical antagonisms" that persisted after the Revolution. West never completed his painting. According to

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States S ...

, West intended to present the painting as a gift to Congress. The painting, a gift of

Henry Francis du Pont Henry Francis du Pont (May 27, 1880 – April 11, 1969) was an American horticulturist, collector of early American furniture and decorative arts, breeder of Holstein Friesian cattle, and scion of the powerful du Pont family. Converted into ...

, is in the permanent collection of the

Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate and museum in Winterthur, Delaware. Pronounced “winter-tour," Winterthur houses one of the richest collections of Americana in the United States. The museum and estate were the home of ...

, du Pont's former home in Winterthur,

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

. Du Pont had purchased the work from the

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...

collection in 1948. The painting was displayed at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in 2016 as part of an exhibition on unfinished paintings.

References

{{John Jay 1783 paintings cultural depictions of Benjamin Franklin cultural depictions of John Adams John Jay paintings about the American Revolution paintings by Benjamin West paintings in Delaware unfinished paintings Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library