I don’t often laugh
about art history (seriously!), but now and then one just can’t help it. With
this group of “portraits,” I had to keep in mind that: A) the people who bought
these prints did not have TVs or computers to check the accuracy of the
likeness against news reports; and B) many of the artists of these prints were
self-trained and making copies of copies of copies of painted or print
portraits of the sitter. Either way, the following are not what we are
accustomed to accepting as a likeness of our first president. Likenesses of the
first president were in great demand during the early republic, as can well be
imagined. Unfortunately, there were no photographs to guide many of the
artists.
Aside from the fact that the Father of our Country has no
neck in the print above, I’m at a loss to find a source for this pose from any
painted portraits of Washington. The closest thing (and that’s stretching it)
is the portrait Peale did (several times) of Washington at the Battle of Princeton
(below). Maybe this is retribution for us beating them? I know before the
Revolution he aspired to be an officer in the British army. Is that why he’s
wearing a British uniform in this print?
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Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827, US), George Washington at the Battle of Princeton, ca. 1779. Oil on canvas, 51 9/16" x 47 7/8" (131 x 121.6 cm). © 2017 Cleveland Museum of Art. (CL-922) |
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Unknown German artist, probably from Augsburg, George Washington, Esquier (sic), late 1700s. Mezzotint on paper, sheet: 11 5/16" x 8 ¼" (28.7 x 21 cm). © 2017 Philadelphia Museum of Art. (PMA-8078) |
At least the previous example got the baldric correct from the right
shoulder. I honestly can’t find any source for this depiction. I’m guessing it
is based on a print of some German or French monarch on the battlefield. By the
way, “Esquier” is not French for esquire (that would be écuyer).
Doolittle, born in Cheshire, Connecticut, was a self-taught
copper engraver. He is perhaps most famous for his prints of the Battles of
Lexington and Concord, for which he interviewed witnesses. They are considered
the most accurate depictions of what happened on that day. I’m afraid that
Washington’s oblong head betrays Doolittle’s lack of anatomical study in his
ode to the new country. I’m thinking this may be based on a print by the Swiss
artist Pierre Eugène du Simitère (1737–1784). View
that work in the Princeton University collection to see if you agree!
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Johann Lorenz Rugendas, I (1730–1799, Germany), George Washington, Esqr., 1775–1778. Mezzotint on paper, sheet: 16 5/16" x 11 1/16" (41.4 x 28.1 cm). © 2017 Philadelphia Museum of Art. (PMA-8090) |
This artist was a member of a family of engravers who
provided print copies of oil paintings of the rich and famous. The only other
works I can find similar to this are of German royalty. Aside from the fact
that Washington’s nose looks like a ski slope, the setting almost looks like he
was a naval hero. It is so interesting that in many of these works they call
him “esquire,” which was an honorific for people just shy of noble title.
If this print is “sacred
to the memory of” Washington, then it would be after his death in 1799,
correct? I am surmising that this is a combination of president-warrior
executed after his death. It contains the head of the older president period—rather
like the copy of Gilbert Stuart on dollar bills—and his army trappings from the
Revolution. The “F. Bartoli” who is credited with a painting of this subject is
fictitious, according to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828, US), George Washington (Vaughan portrait), 1795. Oil on canvas, 28 ¾" x 23 13/16" (73 x 60.5 cm). National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. (NGA-P0675) |
I stuck this in because I
wanted to show you how the first family really looked by an artist who studied
them personally. Savage not only did individual portraits of them, but also
this regal family get together. They’re looking over the plans for the new
Federal City. I think Martha is supposed to be pointing to the spot for the
executive mansion. Savage made sketches from the First Family while they were
in New York (our first capital). He subsequently waited until 1796 to paint
this imagined group setting from the individual studies of each person. He then
had produced hand-colored and uncolored engravings of the print, garnering an
immediate 331 subscriptions for the print in 1798.
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