Richard Price (1723–1791) was a radical and author. The portrait depicts him sitting in his office reading a letter from his friend Benjamin Franklin, dated 1784.
Price noted the sitting for this portrait in his diary, which is held today, like the picture itself, in the collection of the National Library of Wales, in Aberystwyth. This is the final portrait. Two similar images exist, perhaps studies for this picture: one held in Wales' National Museum in Cardiff, and one at the Royal Society in London.
The artist
West was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania. He travelled and painted many portraits, and has been called "the American Raphael". He died at Newman Street in London, on 11 March 1820. He is buried in St Paul's Cathedral.[2]
