George Washington
c. 1803/1805
Painter, American, 1755 - 1828
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 73.6 x 61.4 cm (29 x 24 3/16 in.)
framed: 92.7 x 80 x 7.6 cm (36 1/2 x 31 1/2 x 3 in.) -
Accession
1954.9.2
More About this Artwork
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Artwork history & notes
Provenance
William C. McDonald [1757/1758-1845], Baltimore;[1] probably his grandson, Samuel McDonald [1849-1877], Baltimore County, Maryland;[2] bought by Cornelia Adelaide Granger (Thayer) Winthrop [Mrs. Robert Charles Winthrop, 1819-1892] and her daughter, Adele Thayer for Robert Charles Winthrop [1809-1894], Boston;[3] bequeathed to Adele Thayer and to his grandson, Robert M. Winthrop [1873-1938], Boston;[4] (Frank W. Bayley & Son, Boston), consigned 5 December 1924 to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York);[5] sold 24 December 1924 to Edward Small Moore [1881-1948], New York;[6] his wife, Jean McGinley Moore Draper [Mrs. Charles Dana Draper, 1884/1885-1954], New York;[7] bequest 1954 to NGA.
[1] See McDonald's obituary in the Baltimore Sun, 19 August 1845, 2; McDonald died "in his 87th year," which would mean that he was born either in 1757 or 1758.
[2] Elizabeth Bryant Johnston, Original Portraits of Washington, including Statues, Monuments and Medals, Boston, 1882, 99-100, says that the portrait was offered for sale in Boston by the last McDonald male heir, who was Samuel McDonald. He inherited his father William McDonald's estate of half-million dollars in 1870. He lived in Baltimore County, Maryland, and owned a hunting lodge in Terre Haute, Indiana. On his death at an early age see "Golden Opportunities Lost. A Fortune Wasted and a Life Thrown Away--Death of Samuel McDonald in Indiana," The New York Times, 24 August 1877, 3.
[3] Adele Thayer, widow of John Eliot Thayer, married Robert C. Winthrop in 1865; see James Nathaniel Granger, Launcelot Granger of Newbury, Mass., Hartford, Connecticut, 1893, 305, and Lawrence Shaw Mayo, The Winthrop Family in America, Boston, 1948, 339. George C. Mason, The Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart, New York, 1879, 107, wrote that Winthrop had recently acquired the portrait; Mantle Fielding, Gilbert Stuart's Portraits of George Washington Philadelphia, 1923, 194, noted that he placed it on deposit at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
[4] John Hill Morgan and Mantle Fielding, The Life Portraits of Washington and Their Replicas, Philadelphia, 1931, 295-296, say that Winthrop left it to his grandson, whom they call Robert C. Winthrop, the name of his son, who died in 1905; for the names and dates of both see Mayo 1948, 343-344, 405.
[5] Letter dated 18 August 1992 from Melissa de Medeiros, librarian, M. Knoedler & Co., New York (NGA curatorial file).
[6] Information from Melissa De Medeiros, librarian, M. Knoedler & Co., New York (letter, 18 August 1992) and from the memorandum of the sale, dated 24 December 1924 (NGA curatorial file); for Moore's dates see The New York Times, 28 September 1948 (obituary).
[7] For Mrs. Draper's dates see The New York Times, 27 September 1954 (obituary).
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1953
Exhibition of Portraits by Gilbert Stuart, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1880, no. 291
1956
Mr. President; A Pictorial Parade of Presidents from Washington to Eisenhower 1789-1956, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Texas, 1956, no. 7 (for the State Fair of Texas).
1963
French, American, and Italian Review, Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, 1963, no. 48
1964
Extended loan for use by The White House, Washington, D.C., 1964-1969.
1972
Extended loan for use by Blair House, Washington, D.C., 1972-1985.
1986
Extended loan for use by Ambassador Ronald Lauder, U.S. Embassy residence, Vienna, Austria, 1986-1990.
1991
Extended loan for use by Justice Anthony Scalia, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1991-2008.
2008
Extended loan for use by Chief Justice John Roberts, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C., 2008-
Bibliography
1879
Mason, George C. The Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart. New York, 1879: 107.
1880
"Portraits Painted by Stuart...taken from Mason's Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart." In Exhibition of Portraits Painted by Gilbert Stuart. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1880: 26, no cat. no.
1882
Johnston, Elizabeth Bryant. Original Portraits of Washington, including Statues, Monuments and Medals. Boston, 1882: 99-100.
1923
Fielding 1923, 194, no. 73.
1926
Park 1926, 881, no. 73, repro.
1931
Morgan & Fielding 1931, 295-296, no. 73.
1932
Eisen 1932, 1:162-163.
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 108, repro.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 237, repro.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 352, repro.
1995
Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 235-237, repro. 236.
2003
The Worlds of Jacob Eichholtz, Portrait Painter of the Early Republic. Exh. cat. Lancaster County History Society, Pennsylvania (plus two other simultaneous venues), 2003: 107, repro.
2004
Barratt, Carrie Rebora, and Ellen G. Miles. Gilbert Stuart. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (for the National Portrait Gallery). New York, New Haven, and London, 2004: 157-158, fig. 98.
Inscriptions
reverse of the lining canvas, in a later hand: Stuart's Washington / painted for Genl McDonald / of Maryland, & from his walls / brought to Boston, & given to / Rob. C. Winthrop / by his wife & daughter.
Wikidata ID
Q20181588