Eighteenth-century England—the England that knew little art outside the bounds of portraiture and historical painting, and the England that had little appreciation for religious painting because of its association with Roman Catholicism.

In fact, 18th-century English art would include little, if any, religious painting if King George III had not entered the scene. Many English Protestants viewed religious art as an extension of Roman Catholic worship, and therefore largely excluded it from churches as part of their reformation efforts. King George III, however, felt differently about religious art and subtly sought to infiltrate it back into the culture.

Realizing that the Anglicans were strongly opposed to hanging art in their churches, King George decided to build a private chapel at Windsor “for the purpose of displaying a pictorial illustration of the history of revealed religion,” and to commission his court painter, Benjamin West, to create the series.

John Galt, West’s biographer, recorded that the king “desired Mr. West to draw up a list of subjects from the Bible, susceptible of pictorial representation, which Christians, of all denominations, might contemplate without offense to their tenets.”

According to various lists published in the first two decades of the 19th century, West’s scheme for the Chapel of the History of Revealed Religion contained approximately 35 paintings distributed among four dispensations. Because plans for the chapel changed as he went along, we do not know for sure how many pictures he intended to paint. At its inception in 1779 the scheme may have comprised no more than 16 paintings. However, in 1796 he told the King there were 26, and in 1801 West reported 35.

During his life, West completed 18 large paintings for the chapel, and left one unfinished. Of these 18 original finished paintings, 6 are lost. That leaves 12 original finished works still existing, 7 of which are housed in the War Memorial Chapel on the Bob Jones University campus.

In 1963, the Museum & Gallery acquired seven canvases from Benjamin West’s large series, The Progress of Revealed Religion. Originally, King George III of England had commissioned West to paint this series for the king’s proposed private chapel in Windsor Castle. However, because of the king’s illness and eventual madness, the chapel was never built, the entire series was never completed, and the paintings were never hung at Windsor. After West’s death, the completed part of the series was separated. Seven of the paintings fell into private hands where they remained until 1963 when the Museum & Gallery acquired them.