Washington at Valley Forge

mid 19th century

American 19th Century

Associated Names
American 19th Century

Artist

This painting shows a wintry landscape from a slightly elevated point of view. Rolling hills extend in the background, with small houses, snowy tress, and distant mountains visible. Closer to us, people are gathered outside of a yellow cabin. Several of them appear to be soldiers wearing blue uniforms and tricorn hats, holding tall guns. One person on horseback holds an American flag. In the center, a man sits on a white horse, wearing a blue-and-gold uniform under a cloak. Two small fires create billows of gray smoke. More people on horseback make their way across a path through the snowy hills. The brushstrokes are smooth and detailed, and the color palette includes blues, grays, whites, browns, and greens.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Recorded as from the Swazy family, New Hope, New Jersey. (Mrs. Frank Bien, Morristown, New Jersey), by whom sold in 1954 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; gift to NGA, 1971.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1957

  • Extended loan for use by The White House, Washington, D.C., 1957.

1972

  • American Primitive Painting, South Texas Artmobile, Corpus Christi, traveling exhibition by the International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, 1972-1973, no cat.

1974

  • Extended loan for use by The Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1974-1982.

1984

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary John Block, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 1984-1986.

1986

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Richard Lyng, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 1986-1989.

1989

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassador Walter Curley, U.S. Embassy residence, Paris, France, 1989-1993.

1997

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, South Texas Institute for the Arts, Corpus Christi, 1997.

1999

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Madeleine Albright, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C., 1999-2001.

2001

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Roderick R. Paige, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C., 2001-2004.

2004

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Alphonso Jackson, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, D.C., 2004-2008.

2008

  • Extended loan for use by Secretary Steve Preston, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, D.C., 2008.

2010

  • American Naive Paintings from the Garbisch Collection at the National Gallery of Art, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, Virginia, 2010, no cat.

Bibliography

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 301, repro.

1992

  • Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 628-629, color repro. 629.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 432, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20185451

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