George Washington

This 1796 portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, known as the “Landsdowne” portrait, hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

As a military and political figure, George Washington a unifying force during the country's formative years, He fought in the French and Indian War and later served as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War. After being unanimously elected as the first president Of the United States, in 1789, he installed the Supreme Court and the cabinet, quelled the Whiskey Rebellion, and defeated the Western Lakes Confederacy in the Northwest Indian War (and facilitated the subsequent peace negotiations with the alliance), Washington enjoyed immense popularity at the end of his second term, but he declined to run again, insisting that the United States needed to take proper precautions to avoid hereditary leadership or dictatorship.

While mapping out the composition for this painting, American artist Gilbert Stuart, who had previously worked in England and Ireland, drew from European traditions of state portraiture to evoke Washington's leadership. The artist made a number of direct references to the newly formed United States, and the pose he chose for the president is believed to allude to Washington's annual address in front of Congress in December 1795. Stuart completed several replicas of the image, which spread rapidly through popular engravings. -- NPG

Portrait of

George Washington,

Painted in 1796 by

Gilbert Stuart

- for -

William, 1st Marquis of Landsdowne.

The inkwell on top of the desk is said to be a reminder of Noah's Ark. Behind that Washington's hat with a black cockade. The two books are the Federalist Papers and the Journal of the Congress. The blueprint for the federal republic and the record of its performance.

In keeping with the Noah's Ark theme there's a rainbow over Washington's left shoulder. Oddly, the colors are upside-down. Red is on top in a real rainbow.

The leg of the table with its eagles is said to echo the mace used by the Congress.

The Stars and Stripes appear on the back of Washington's chair.

The portrait was commissioned by Senator William Bingham and his wife Anne Willing Bingham to be given to  William Petty, Lord Shelburne, the first Marquis of Lansdowne.

 William Petty, Lord Shelburne, the first Marquis of Lansdowne

by

Jean Laurent Mosnier

This  portrait is the first  of  4 versions painted by Stuart.  Another version found its way to the White House where it was rescued by Dolly Madison from being burned along with the president's mansion by British troops in 1814. Through a series of inheritances and sales the original Landsdowne portrait came to belong to the  Dalmeny family who loaned it to the National Portrait Gallery on a long term basis in 1968. This plaque on an Aquia Sandstone column near the portrait in the National Portrait Gallery explains what happened when Lord Harry Dalmeny decided to sell the portrait in 2000.

Fred W. Smith

The great “Landsdowne” portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, on loan to the National Portrait Gallery since 1968, was threatened with sale in 2000. But when Fred W. Smith chair of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, learned in a news article and then on television that the nation might lose this founding portrait of the American presidency, he responded quickly. It was his desire that every school-aged child might have the opportunity to see the painting in person. Toward that goal the Reynolds Foundation provided $30 million to purchase the portrait, tour it around the country, and place it in this presidential gallery which the Smithsonian Regents have named in honor of Smith’s patriotic vision.

Fred W. Smith Gallery