“Peale has rendered Washington timeless, universalized, a man for all ages.”
In the fall of 1795 at the Philosophical Hall in Philadelphia, President George Washington sat for his seventh and final portrait session with Charles Willson Peale. The ensuing image marks the first and only time that Peale captured Washington’s likeness during his presidency. In previous sittings, Peale illustrated Washington’s heroism in specific battles and moments in history – first as the Colonel of the Virginia Regiment and later as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. However, this exceptional presidential portrait celebrates Washington as a virtuous man, distinguished leader, and universal symbol of the newly established Republic.
The original painting that Peale executed in 1795 following his sitting with Washington now resides in the New-York Historical Society’s permanent collection (fig. 1). According to the Peale Family Papers, the present work is one of three known oil on canvas replicas that Peale produced from this portrait session. The other two reside in public collections, at the Mead Art Museum, Amherst College and Macculloch Hall Historical Museum respectively. The last time a companion painting from this 1795 group appeared at public auction occurred in May 1954 at Parke-Bernet Galleries; therefore the sale of George Washington signifies a rare and historically significant moment in the American art market.
When C.W. Peale rendered Washington from life for the final time in 1795, he had already distinguished himself as a master of American portraiture and the recognized authority on George Washington. In fact, Peale illustrated Washington from life more than any other artist (Charles Allen Munn, Three Types of Washington Portraits, New York, 1908, p. 30). The pair initiated their long standing relationship more than twenty years prior in the spring of 1772, when Peale visited the Virginia colonel at his Mount Vernon Estate. The resulting image from this early meeting captures Washington’s likeness in the years leading up to the American Revolution, effectively commemorating his service in the French and Indian War as a young colonel. As a young man of forty at the time, Washington’s history with Peale continued well into his late sixties, charting the leader’s increasing notoriety and admiration over time. Thus, the present subject from his 1795 sitting is the culmination of their decades-long collaboration and markedly different in approach than Peale’s earlier renditions of Washington.
Peale had previously illustrated Washington as a military hero, but the man who sat before him in 1795 was the first President of the United States. Peale captures the leader in civilian dress in order to reflect this monumental shift in power. He sports a crisp white cravat and his hair is rendered naturally and without pretension. His left cheek shows evidence of scarring from his smallpox infection in November of 1751, and he appears distinctly older and more mature in contrast to earlier renditions (Mary V. Thompson, “Smallpox,” George Washington's Mount Vernon. Tracing Washington’s transition from Colonel to Commander-in-Chief and now President through Peale’s portraits is an inspiring array of visual documentation.
Portraits of George Washington in civilian dress are exceedingly hard to come by, making it a defining characteristic of this painting. Arguably more remarkable than Washington’s civilian garments, though, is the artist’s ability to represent Washington with such a thoughtful and poised expression. In his 1952 text Portraits of Charles Willson Peale, historian Charles Coleman Sellers remarks that it is the “alertness” and “intelligence” perceived in this portrait that sets C.W. Peale apart from his contemporaries (Charles Coleman Sellers, Portraits and Miniatures by Charles Willson Peale, Philadelphia, 1952, p. 239). His successful treatment of Washington’s facial expression stems from decades of experience as a renowned portrait painter, as well as his unrivaled familiarity with the sitter himself, whom he had previously painted from life on six occasions over the course of twenty-three years.
The strength of this portrait lies in its careful mastery of certain dichotomies; the President appears modest and unassuming, yet simultaneously dignified and regal. Upon observing Peale’s 1795 portrait, Dr. Lillian B. Miller, historian and editor of the Charles Willson Peale Papers, commented that “Peale has rendered Washington timeless, universalized, a man for all ages” (as quoted in 1992). Furthermore, in an article for The Magazine Antiques, Dr. John Wilmerding underscores the power that a civilian portrait of Washington conveyed, calling Peale’s portrait “striking for its blend of humanity and nobility” (John Wilmerding, The Magazine Antiques, July 1987, p. 147).
“Perhaps I have a good eye, that is all… a good painter of either portrait or history must be well acquainted with the Grecian and Roman statues, to be able to draw them at pleasure by memory, and account for every beauty, must know the original cause of beauty in all he sees”
When Chancellor Henry William DeSaussure, retiring director of the United States Mint, commissioned a portrait of Washington for his South Carolina home in 1795, he approached C.W. Peale for the task. The elder Peale saw DeSaussure’s request as an opportunity to help his inexperienced artist son, Rembrandt, gain his first important commission. A young man of seventeen, Rembrandt Peale undertook the 1795 sitting with President Washington for the DeSaussure commission, but his experienced father joined the portrait session to ease his son’s nerves (Sellers, Portraits and Miniatures by Charles Willson Peale, Philadelphia, 1952, pp. 274-75). Rembrandt later recalled, “I was conscious that my anxiety would overpower me and that I should fail in my purpose unless my father would agree to take a canvas alongside me and thus give me an assurance that the sittings would not be unprofitable, by affording a double chance for a likeness” (Rembrandt Peale, Washington and His Portraits,” from MS Collections of Haverford College). Hoping to create an atmosphere devoid of formalities or stress, Peale invited his brother James and eldest son, Raphaelle to participate in the session as well. The present portrait is therefore the result of this unconventional yet dynamic group sitting, which saw Charles Willson produce his seventh portrait of Washington, and his son Rembrandt attempt his first. For C.W. Peale, the success of his 1795 session with the President was twofold – it allowed him to execute his final portrait of Washington and the replicas that followed, while also jumpstarting his young son’s career.
In comparing C.W. Peale’s 1795 rendition of Washington against that of his less experienced son, the naturalism achieved by the elder Peale becomes increasingly apparent. One key difference between Charles Willson and Rembrandt’s approaches lies in each artist’s respective treatment of Washington’s eyes. Rembrandt Peale opts for a bright shade of blue which pops in comparison to his stark black pupils (fig. 2). His father, on the other hand, adopts a much subtler shade of blue which he skillfully blends into the darkness of the pupil. Charles Willson is also careful to speckle each eye with the smallest fleck of white paint in order to mimic the reflective property of the human eye. His gaze is distant and nonspecific, but there is a purposefulness to his glance which signals intelligence and insight. C.W. Peale’s choices concerning the President’s eyes render the portrait much more naturalistic and anatomically correct. His approach to Washington’s facial features conveys the illusion that one is in the room with the President when viewing this painting. Peale wrote in his 1823 autobiography, “if a painter… paints a portrait in such perfection that the spectator believes the real person is there, that happy Painter will dese[r]ve to be caressed by the greatest of mortal beings” (Carol Eaton Soltis, The Art of the Peales in the Philadelphia Museum of Art: Adaptations and Innovations, New Haven, 2017, p. 90).
Right: Fig. 3. Gilbert Stuart, George Washington (Vaughan Portrait), 1795. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Andrew W. Mellon Collection.
Not only is this portrait exceedingly rare since Peale only painted Washington once from life during his presidency, but it also boasts a rich loan history. This portrait adorned the walls of the original George Washington Museum at Mount Vernon for twelve years, and was most recently on view at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. It has been on display in prominent institutions for seventeen years and admired by millions of museum patrons. It is fitting that such a unique and historic work of art has an impressive loan history to match.
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Eni Zerbe and Mary Elizabeth BradfordValley Forge, Pennsylvania
Art historian Edgar P. Richardson called Peale’s 1795 rendition of Washington a “classic and forceful expression of republican virtues (Edgar P. Richardson, Charles Willson Peale and His World, New York, 1982, p. 190). He transforms into a man of the people, thus appealing to a much larger audience. He is the dignified symbol of the new republic – one governed by an elected official rather than a man in uniform. Washington is the embodiment of the young nation’s promising future, and Peale’s portrait conveys this optimism and stability to the American public. Through Peale’s careful stylistic choices, this portrait ultimately portrays Washington’s growth as a distinguished leader and well-respected man of the people, and it is easily one of the finest representations of President Washington from this moment in history. Amidst the myriad of comparable portraits of Washington from this period, this rendition reigns supreme.