Benjamin West was the first American-born painter to study abroad. He left Pennsylvania in 1760 for Rome, then in 1763 went to London, where he acquired an international reputation for his neoclassical style of painting historical and literary subjects. Here, West portrays a scene from The Faerie Queen, a book-length poem by Sir Edmund Spenser celebrating Christian virtues. Fidelia (Faith), holding the New Testament, and her sister Speranza (Hope) wait for the arrival of the Red Cross Knight. The knight, representing the human soul, is brought to the House of Holiness by Una (Truth) riding a donkey through the stormy landscape at left.