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George Washington, 1732-1799
Martha Washington commissioned Gilbert Stuart to paint a new portrait of her husband in 1796, after the success of his first portrait. Stuart preferred this new portrait, which he intentionally left unfinished so that he could use it as a model for numerous copies. The left-facing original has become known as the "Athenaeum" portrait, after the Boston institution that owned it for many years. From the Anthanaeum original Stuart painted more than sixty replicas over the next thirty years, including this early version that he probably painted in Philadelphia, before his 1803 move to Washington, DC. The Anthanaeum image became the preferred likeness of George Washington and served as the basis for the engraving on the one-dollar bill. Its familiarity led John Neal, an early-nineteenth-century writer and art critic, to note: "Though a better likeness of him were shown to us, we should reject it; for, the only idea that we now have of George Washington, is associated with Stuart's Washington."
Gilbert Stuart, c 1800
Lent by the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, Corcoran Collection |