[1] The third version is a 25-foot wide painting that West exhibited in 1817 in a special gallery on the street of Pall Mall, where he charged admission for visitors who wished to see it.

[2] He had risen to prominence through works such as The Death of General Wolfe, The Departure of Regulus, and Agrippina Landing at Brundisium with the Ashes of Germanicus, which date from the decisive early years of his career between 1765 and 1772.

The subject of Death on the Pale Horse comes from the first eight verses of the sixth chapter of The Revelation of St. John the Divine (also known as the Apocalypse, the final book of the New Testament).

[3] Additionally, American educator William Smith claims to have encouraged West toward spiritual pursuits and introduced him to the knowledge of "The Ancients.

[5] Death on the Pale Horse differs from West's earlier paintings in the Neoclassical style, which celebrated heroic deeds.

[1] The art historian Allen Staley describes this work as the beginning of West's departure from "earlier paintings of classical subjects celebrating virtuous and heroic human behavior.

This painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1796 under the title The opening of the four seals (vide Revelation); a sketch for His Majesty's Chapel, Windsor.

[1] The fact that the project was never completed makes it difficult to determine the place that Death on the Pale Horse was meant to occupy in the series.

[8] In this final version, West changed the rider on the rightmost horse from a warrior to a more Christ-like figure, gazing toward the sky.

[1] King George III, however, reportedly called the painting a "Bedlamite scene," perhaps in reference to his personal experience with mental illness.

[1] Years later, Beckford continued buying apocalyptic pictures, including Francis Danby's An Attempt to Illustrate the Opening of the Sixth Seal, currently at the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.

"[12] When the painting arrived in New York in 1836, the Weekly Register took note, saying: ""[T]his picture has long been regarded as the chef d'oeuvre of our distinguished countryman.