Existing comment:
George Washington, 1732-1799
In 1795, the Philadelphia artist Charles Willson Peale persuaded President George Washington to pose for his seventeen-year-old son Rembrandt, who wanted to paint the president's portrait. Upon learning that Rembrandt was joined in the painting room by his father, his brother Raphaelle, and his Uncle James (all artists), Gilbert Stuart quipped that the president was in danger of being "Pealed all around." Rembrandt Peale's original life portrait is now in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. He once stated that he had painted ten replicas, but only two are known -- this example and one in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Rembrandt Peale (1778–1860), 1795 |