George Washington (1732–1799)

George Washington (1732–1799) George Washington, first president of the illiam Dunlap’s pastel portrait of George Washington United States, earned the epithet Father is remarkable as the earliest-known painting by a of His Country for his great leadership, both in the fight for independence and in man better known for his invaluable publication unifying the new nation under a central History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design government. Washington was born in in the United States (1834), the first attempt to Westmoreland County, Virginia, and chronicle the art of this country. The painting survived (despite damage worked as a surveyor in his youth. In W 1752 he inherited a family estate, Mount by fire while it resided in San Francisco) for more than 150 years in Vernon, upon the death of a half brother, the possession of the Van Horne family, its authenticity affirmed by Lawrence. Washington’s military career began in 1753, when he accepted an Dunlap himself. In 1838, near the end of his life, Dunlap wrote a state- appointment to carry a warning to French ment confirming his authorship of the Senate’s Washington pastel, briefly forces who had pushed into British terri- describing the circumstances of the sitting. Equally conclusive, and more tory in the Ohio valley. In subsequent military assignments, Washington distin- compelling, is the story of the portrait’s origin included in his autobi guished himself against the French, first ography—already published in his Rise and Progress. while aiding General Edward Braddock Having received meager training in art from the American painter and later as commander-in-chief of all Virginia militia. William Williams, Dunlap embarked on his youthful career in 1782 by In 1758 Washington returned to executing portraits in “crayons” (pastels) of his father, other relatives, civilian life as a gentleman-farmer at and friends. In the autumn of 1783, he visited Rocky Hill, New Jersey, Mount Vernon and soon took a seat in the Virginia house of burgesses. As a planter, home of John Van Horne. General Washington’s temporary headquarters Washington had firsthand knowledge of was nearby while Congress was convening at Princeton College, and the economic restrictions being imposed by Washington was a frequent visitor to the Van Horne home, so Dunlap Britain, and as a Virginia legislator, he 1 supported political efforts to curtail British “was of course introduced to him.” The young artist had made pastel control of the colonies. Washington was portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Van Horne, and Washington praised them selected to serve as a delegate to the first (“doubtless the mere wish to encourage youth,” according to Dunlap). and second Continental Congresses, and in June 1775 he was chosen to command As a result, Dunlap recalled, John Van Horne “requested him to sit to the American forces. He successfully led me and he complied. This was a triumphant moment for a boy of the Continental army through eight difficult seventeen...but it was one of anxiety, fear and trembling.”2 years of war for independence. In 1783, after the Revolution, Wash- Although family tradition maintains that Dunlap’s portrait of ington resigned his military commission to Washington was executed at the Van Horne estate, Dunlap’s very specific, Congress at Annapolis, Maryland. Recog- detailed, and charming reminiscence differs: nizing the need for a strong central govern ment, he served as president of the federal My visits were now frequent to head quarters.... The soldiers [at headquarters] were convention charged with drafting the New-England yeomen’s sons, none older than twenty; their commander was Captain Constitution. Reluctantly, he accepted the Howe.... I was astonished when the simple Yankee sentinels, deceived by my fine will of his colleagues to become president clothes, saluted me as I passed daily to and fro; but Captain Howe’s praise of my portrait of the new nation, and he was inaugurated in New York City on April 30, 1789. of the general appeared to me as a thing of course, though surely he was as much deceived Contending with the ideological struggles as his soldiers. I was quite at home in every respect at head quarters... [to be] noticed within the government, and with hostilities as the young painter, was delicious. The general’s portrait led to the sitting of the lady between France and Great Britain, Wash- [Martha Washington]. I made what were thought likenesses, and presented them to ington greatly feared the growth of political Mr. and Mrs. Van Horne, taking copies for myself.3 386 United States Senate George Washington William Dunlap (1766–1839) Pastel on paper, ca. 1783 1 1 25 ⁄2 x 19 ⁄2 inches (64.8 x 49.5 cm) Unsigned Gift of Anne Middleton Ellis in memory of her husband, Augustus Van Horne Ellis, 1940 Accepted by the Joint Committee on the Library, 1940 Cat. no. 31.00015 Catalogue of Fine Art 387 George Washington —continued parties and the dangers of foreign involve It would be pleasant to report that the portrait was as fine as the ment. These issues impelled him to serve a praise bestowed on the young man’s work, but, in fact, it is labored and second term as president. His attempts to solve foreign relations awkward. The Continental army uniform (despite evident effort) is mostly issues during his second term resulted in unconvincing, from the odd abstraction of the ruffled shirtfront to the Jay’s Treaty (1794), a vain attempt to reg epaulets that look more like strands from an old mop. Still, to his credit, ulate trade and settle boundary disputes with Great Britain, and the Pinckney Dunlap manages to render Washington’s prominent and idiosyncratic nose Treaty (1795), which successfully settled with success, and the eye sockets are smoothly modeled. One spatial such issues with Spain. Washington also problem—the viewer’s uncertainty that a neck lies behind the neck cloth— acted vigorously to enforce federal authority by quashing the Whiskey may well be due to the fact that Dunlap had lost the sight of his right Rebellion, during which liquor producers eye in a childhood accident. This loss “prevented all further regular in western Pennsylvania threatened the schooling,” and Dunlap also believed that “either from nature or the above new republic by rebelling against an unpopular excise tax on whiskey. accident, I did not possess a painter’s eye for colour; but I was now Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address devoted to painting as a profession, and I did not suspect any deficiency.”4 to the nation emphasized the need for a It is much more likely that his spatial perception, rather than his color unified federal government and warned against party faction and foreign influence. perception, was altered. Although often subjected to harsh criticism But there is no need to belabor the shortcomings of a teenager’s by his contemporaries, Washington suc portrait of the most famous man of his day. Dunlap was his own severest ceeded in giving the new government dignity. He saw a federal financial system critic. Early in his artistic career, Dunlap had gone to London to study firmly established through the efforts of with American neoclassical painter Benjamin West. On his return, he Alexander Hamilton, and he set valuable established himself as a portrait and miniature painter, while also working precedents in the conduct of the executive office. Washington retired to Mount Vernon, as a theatrical manager. He later painted large allegorical and religious where he died on December 14, 1799. pictures, similar to those of Benjamin West. Looking back from old age to his early painting career, Dunlap wrote, “I now intend to show the causes that, at the age of twenty-three, and after a long residence in London, left me ignorant of anatomy, perspective, drawing, and colouring, and returned me home a most incapable painter.”5 In addition to painting, Dunlap spent time as a militia paymaster, was one of the founders of the National Academy of Design in New York City, and was involved in civic and cultural affairs throughout his lifetime. He remarked at one time, “The good artist who is not a good man, is a traitor to the arts, and an enemy to society.”6 In 1926 Augustus Van Horne Ellis wrote to Charles Fairman, curator for the architect of the Capitol, about the youthful Dunlap’s “crayon por trait” of General George Washington from life, which had been handed 388 United States Senate down through his family. The two men corresponded over the next 11 years, discussing the possible gift of the portrait to the U.S. government. Not until after Ellis’s death, however, was the painting accepted by the Joint Committee on the Library as a gift to the “Senate branch of the Capitol” from Anne Middleton Ellis in memory of her husband. Artist William Dunlap executed this self- portrait around 1812. (Yale University Art Gallery, Gift from the estate of Geraldine Woolsey Carmalt) Catalogue of Fine Art 389 George Washington —continued n 1795, at the age of 17, Rembrandt Peale painted a life portrait of George Washington during the president’s second term. This rare opportunity had been arranged by Rembrandt’s father, Charles Willson Peale, who had already painted Washington from life more often than any other artist. While the elder Peale painted beside Ihim (“to calm my nerves”), Rembrandt created a rivetingly realistic head of the president.1 For the sittings with Washington, the Peales alternated with portraitist Gilbert Stuart—the Peales painted Washington one day and Stuart, the next. The younger Peale was never fully satisfied with his resulting life portrait, though he soon produced 10 copies from it.

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