Benjamin West was labeled as a child prodigy at the age of six when he began painting with a brush made from his cat’s tail. Everyone knew that he would be a special child when he was born under such peculiar circumstances. His mother was in a church listening to the priest talk about the sinfulness of the old world when she became so touched that she went into labor pains right there in church. The pains subsided and the child was born eight days later. The preacher came and said these words about the child, “ Note that child for he has come into the world in a remarkable way and will assuredly prove a wonderful man.”

             After he had painted for a year in very basic red and black inks he encountered some Indians and they noticed his paintings and asked why he had not painted the robin’s chest red. He replied that he did not have any colors. The Indians showed him how to make the red and yellow that they used to paint their weapons. When he returned home his mother showed him the color indigo. He now had the three primary colors. He would skip school just to paint. He was not very well versed in arithmetic so he agreed with another student that he would paint pictures of animals in his books if in return he would do his arithmetic. This was his first earning from his work.

             When he was twenty-one he traveled to Europe to study under the famous painters there. He was noticed and asked to come to England where he spent the rest of his life under King George III. He painted many paintings and portraits. Benjamin West liked to paint large life-sized paintings. He soon got the nickname of the “ten-acre painter.” He helped found the Royal Academy for the arts and later became president until his death in 1824.