Existing comment:
George Washington, 1732-1799 (Heath engraving):
James Heath's engraving of Stuart's "Lansdowne" portrait of George Washington:
Gilbert Stuart's full-length portrait of George Washington was sent to London in the fall of 1796, where its owner, the Marquis of Lansdowne, gave James Heath permission to engrave it. The English print was published soon after Washington's death in December 1799. Heath erroneously identified the painter as "Gabriel" Stuart, not Gilbert Stuart, and gave an incorrect date of 1797. Stuart learned about Heath's engraving when he saw examples for sale in a Philadelphia print shop. Angry at the loss of artistic control of the engraving -- as well as of the income its sales would bring -- Stuart complained without success to William Bingham, who had, he thought, promised to secure copyright for the image. Stuart also drafted a letter to Lord Lansdowne about the publication of the print "without my privilege and participation," which was never sent.
James Heath, after Gilbert Stuart, 1800 |