Benjamin West: Bridging America and the Neoclassical Ideal Born in Springfield, Pennsylvania, in 1738 – a location now encompassed within the borough of Swarthmore – Benjamin West’s life was one of remarkable transatlantic movement and artistic evolution. His early years were marked by a self-taught apprenticeship, nurtured by his parents who recognized and encouraged his nascent talent for drawing. This unconventional upbringing, dev…