West, Benjamin “The Battle of the Boyne”

Benjamin West.  “The Battle of the Boyne.”  London:  B. West, J. Hall and W. Woollett, 18 October, 1784.  16 1/2 x 23 1/4 (image).  Engraving.  Modern hand color.  Very god condition.  Ref.:  Erfaa and Staley, The Paintings of Benjamin West: entries 88 and 89.   An event in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1689-1691.  The deposed King James II left his exile in France and began raising an army in Ireland  to oppose William and Mary so that Catholicism rather than Protestantism would be the ruling power in Great Britain.  William III (William of Orange) led his own army to Ireland, and on 1 July 1690 at the Boyne River he soundly defeated James and his Irish-Catholic army.  Ever since that day the Protestants of Ireland have worn the color orange and celebrated 12 July (1 July on the Julian calendar) as a famous and favorable day. Benjamin West painted this scene for Richard, Lord Grosvenor (later the First Lord Grosvenor), and it has remained in the family to this day.  When this print was p