The Lansdowne portrait is an iconic life-size portrait of George Washington painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1796. It depicts the 64-year-old president of the United States during his final year in office. The portrait was a gift to former British Prime Minister William Petty, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, and spent more than 170 years in England.

Stuart painted three replicas of the Lansdowne, and five portraits that were closely related to it.

In 2001, to preclude the original Lansdowne Portrait's imminent sale at auction by Sotheby's New York, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. purchased it for $20 million with donations from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.

Jay Treaty

The Lansdowne portrait likely (and fancifully) depicts President Washington's December 7, 1795, annual address to the Fourth U.S. Congress. There was lingering resentment in the House of Representatives, which expressed its displeasure by declining to appropriate funding for the treaty's implementation until April 1796.

In England, the Lansdowne portrait was celebrated as Washington's endorsement of the Jay Treaty:

<blockquote>The portrait presented by the President to the Marquis of Lansdowne is one of the finest pictures we have seen since the death of Reynolds. The dress he wears is plain black velvet; he has his sword on, upon the hilt of which one hand rests while the other is extended, as the figure is standing and addressing the Hall of Assembly. The point of time is that when he recommended inviolable union between America and Great Britain.</blockquote>

Washington's December 7, 1795, address was the last that he delivered to Congress in person. The following year the President published his Farewell Address in the newspapers, rather than delivering it to Congress. Stuart himself lived and painted in London from 1775 to 1787, and in Dublin from 1787 to 1793. Lansdowne may have placed the order prior to the artist's 1793 departure for the United States. He informed his uncle in Philadelphia of his upcoming arrival: "The object of my journey is only to secure a picture of the President, & finish yours."

Philadelphia served as the temporary national capital from 1790 to 1800 – while Washington, D.C. was under construction. Stuart was introduced to the President in December 1794, at one of Mrs. Washington's Friday evening "drawingrooms."

While visiting London a decade earlier, Senator William Bingham of Pennsylvania and his wife, Anne Willing Bingham, had sat for a family portrait by Stuart (unlocated). It took place at Stuart's studio (and lodgings) in the William Moore Smith house, at the southeast corner of 5th & Chestnut Streets.

Stuart began the portrait in Philadelphia and completed it in Germantown, then some outside the city limits. The Bingham replica was still in the studio on July 27, 1797, when Robert Gilmor Jr. viewed it. The William Kerin Constable replica (now at the Brooklyn Museum) was completed that same month.

Provenance

Most of the owners of the Lansdowne Portrait have been Britons, although it spent 35 years owned by American expatriates living in England, and 48 years owned by the British-citizen descendants of American expatriates.

<blockquote>After the death of Lord Lansdowne, his pictures were sold by auction. The Washington was purchased by Samuel Williams, an English merchant, for $2,000. Williams subsequently became insolvent, and his creditors disposed of the Washington by a lottery. Forty tickets were sold, at fifty guineas each. The picture fell to Mr. J. Delaware Lewis, a nephew of Mr. William D. Lewis, of Philadelphia. But few Americans had ever seen the picture, and Mr. William D. Lewis, who was Chairman of the Committee on Art, obtained the loan of it from his nephew for the Centennial Exhibition. It was sent out with the loan collection from England, unpacked at Memorial Hall, and hung up in the British section before its arrival was known to the Fine Arts Committee. An effort was subsequently made to have it transferred to the American section, but it was unsuccessful. At the close of the Exhibition, it was returned to its owner in England.</blockquote>

Chronology

  • 1796 – Painted by Gilbert Stuart.
  • 1797 – Presented by Senator William Bingham and his wife Anne Willing Bingham as a gift to William Petty, the first Marquis of Lansdowne (died 1805).
  • 1806 – Purchased in March, at the sale of the Marquis's estate by Samuel Williams, an American merchant living in England.
  • 1841 – Inherited by John Delaware Lewis Jr. (1828–1884), son of the American and later a British Member of Parliament
  • 2001 – Purchased by the National Portrait Gallery, with $20 million from The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.

Description and analysis

140px|thumb|left|The table leg may have been inspired by a wooden [[ceremonial mace used by the U.S. House of Representatives (the U.S. House symbol was itself inspired by the Roman fasces). The House mace was a bundle of tied reeds topped with a bald eagle, an American symbol.]]

thumb|Detail of the book bindings in the White House's copy of the Lansdowne portrait. UNITED STATES is spelled as UNITED SATES to distinguish the copy.

The painting is full of symbolism, drawn from American and ancient Roman symbols of the Roman Republic. Stuart painted Washington from life, showing him standing up, dressed in a black velvet suit with an outstretched hand held up in an oratorical manner. Behind Washington is a row of two Doric columns, with another row to the left. Wrapped around and between the columns are red tasseled drapes.

Washington's suit is plain and simple, and the sword he holds on his left side is a dress sword and not a battle sword (symbolizing a democratic form of government, rather than a monarchy or military dictatorship). In the sky, storm clouds appear on the left while a rainbow appears on the right, signifying the American Revolutionary War giving way to the peace and prosperity of the new United States after the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The medallion at the top of the chair shows the red, white, and blue colors of the American flag.

thumb|Detail of the rainbow in the Lansdowne portrait. Note that the colors of the rainbow are reversed, similar to the secondary arc of a [[Rainbow#Double rainbows|double rainbow but with no visible primary rainbow.]]

On and under the tablecloth-draped table to the left are two books: Federalist—probably a reference to the Federalist Papers—and Journal of Congress—the Congressional Record. Another five books are under the table: the three to the right are General Orders, American Revolution, and Constitutional Bylaws—symbolizing Washington's leadership as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and president of the Constitutional Convention.

The pen and paper on the table signify the rule of law. The table's leg is carved as a fasces, a bundle of bound wooden rods that symbolized imperial power and authority in ancient Rome. On the table is a silver inkwell, emblazed with George Washington's coat of arms, which alludes to his signing of the Jay Treaty. The Constable-Hamilton Portrait is now in the collection of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Munro-Lenox Portrait

thumb|Munro-Lenox Portrait (1800) by [[Gilbert Stuart, private collection]]

Stuart made several changes for the Munro-Lenox portrait (1800): Washington's head is slightly turned, and his hand is on the table, rather than gesturing into the air. The President looks directly at the viewer, which makes it a more compelling image than the Lansdowne. It failed to sell at auction, and was sold in a private sale for an undisclosed amount to Michael and Judy Steinhardt.

Stuart painted three full-size replicas of the Munro-Lenox Portrait, one for the Connecticut State House in Hartford; and two for Rhode Island—one for the State House in Providence, and the other for Old Colony House in Newport.

Painted by Gilbert Stuart

{|class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! width="5%" | Type

! width="18%" | Collection

! width="7%" | Image

! width="10%" | Artist

! width="8%" | Completed

! width="6%" | Medium

! width="10%" | Dimensions

! width="36%" | Notes

|-

| colspan="8" style="background:#C80815" | Lansdowne type

|-

|Original

|Lansdowne portrait<br>Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

|100px<br><small>at far left</small>

|Gilbert Stuart

|by November 1796

|oil on canvas

|243.8&nbsp;cm x 152.4&nbsp;cm<br>(96 in x 60 in)

|Commissioned by Senator William Bingham<br>Signed & dated: "G. Stuart, 1796" <br>Present in Stuart's Germantown studio, July 1797

|-

|Replica

|Brooklyn Museum,<br>Unsigned & undated<br>Constable paid Stuart $500 for "one [portrait] of the late President of the United States at full length." Constable's receipt from Stuart is signed and dated "Philadelphia. 13 July 1797."

|-

|Replica

|White House, East Room,<br>Washington, D.C.

|100px

|Gilbert Stuart (and<br>William Winstanley?)

|-

|Replica

|Old Colony House (formerly<br>Rhode Island State House, Newport),<br>Newport, Rhode Island

|

|Gilbert Stuart

|by October 1801

|oil on canvas

|

|Old Colony House served as a Rhode Island State House until 1901.<br>The elaborate wooden frame was carved and gilded by Martin Jugiez, a Philadelphia carver. William Winstanley (1775–1806), a British landscape painter working in the United States, reportedly painted six full-size copies of the Lansdowne. During the 19th century, Jane Stuart (the artist's daughter) painted multiple copies of the Lansdowne in full and reduced sizes. Alonzo Chappel included elements of the Lansdowne in his 1860 seated portrait of Washington (Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Lansdowne type

  • The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., unknown artist (possibly William Winstanley), 1798 or later
  • Rayburn Room, U.S. Capitol, unknown artist (possibly William Winstanley), by 1816
  • Inscription: "Presented to the Legation of the United States at Madrid by Richard W. Meade of Philadelphia, December 11th, 1818."
  • Relocated from the U.S. Embassy in Madrid to the U.S. Capitol, 1951.
  • North Carolina State House, Raleigh, North Carolina, by Thomas Sully, commissioned 1816, installed 1818. Now in the House of Representatives Chamber, North Carolina State Capitol.
  • Kuhl-Harrison reduced-size portrait, (36 1/4 in x 24 in), unlocated, Gilbert Stuart and Jane Stuart, by 1828
  • Philadelphia Masonic Temple, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, unknown artist, 1832
  • Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, Maryland, unknown artist, 1830s
  • Providence Athenaeum, Providence, Rhode Island, unknown Italian artist, 1830s
  • The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, by Jane Stuart, mid-19th century
  • Reduced-size portrait, Redwood Library and Athenaeum, Newport, Rhode Island, Jane Stuart, mid-19th century
  • Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama, by Theodore Ramos (1928–2018), 1965. On loan to American Village, Montevallo, Alabama.
  • Florida Historic Capitol Museum, House of Representatives Chamber, Tallahassee, Florida, by Emmaline Buchholz.

<gallery>

File:Lansdowne portrait copy in New York State Capitol.jpg|New York State Capitol, Albany, NY, Ezra Ames, 1813

File:Lansdowne copy Rayburn Room U.S. House of Representatives (HR).jpg|Rayburn Room, U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC, unknown artist, by 1816

File:House of Representatives Chamber - North Carolina State Capitol - DSC05940.JPG|North Carolina State Capitol, Raleigh, NC, Thomas Sully, 1818

File:Loggia-18.jpg|Philadelphia Masonic Temple, PA, unknown artist, 1832

File:Lansdowne portrait of George Washington copy at Providence Athenaeum.jpg|Providence Athenaeum, RI, unknown artist, 1830s

File:Historic American Buildings Survey, Cervin Robinson, Photographer, July 15, 1970 VIEW OF INTERIOR FROM READING (CENTER) ROOM TO DOOR WEST. - Redwood Library, 50 Bellevue Avenue, HABS RI,3-NEWP,15-9.tif|Redwood Library and Athenaeum, Newport, RI. Jane Stuart, mid-19th century

</gallery>

Munro-Lenox type

  • Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota, by Thomas Sully,
  • U.S. House of Representatives Chamber, U.S. Capitol, by John Vanderlyn, 1834
  • National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom (on loan to Montreal Museum of Fine Arts), unknown artist (possibly William Winstanley), undated
  • Old Colony History Museum, Taunton, Massachusetts, by James Sullivan Lincoln, ca 1835.
  • Vermont State House, Montpelier, VT, by George Gassner (1811-1861), ca 1837. The first artwork purchased by the State of Vermont.
  • Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D.C., by Jane Stuart, 1854.
  • National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. (on long-term loan), unknown artist, undated
  • Fall River Public Library, Massachusetts, by Robert Spear Dunning, 1892

<gallery>

File:Thomas Sully - Portrait of George Washington (1732–1799) - 32.12 - Minneapolis Institute of Arts.jpg|Minneapolis Institute of Art, Thomas Sully,

File:Portrait of George Washington by John Vanderlyn.jpg|U.S. House of Representatives, John Vanderlyn, 1834

File:Lansdowne portrait of George Washington at Old Colony History Museum.jpg|Old Colony History Museum, Taunton, MA, James Sullivan Lincoln,

File:Washington by George Gassner after Gilbert Stuart. Vermont State House - vertical crop.jpg|Vermont State House, Montpelier, George Gassner, ca. 1837

<gallery>

File:José Perovani - Retrato de George Washington - Google Art Project.jpg|Portrait of George Washington by Giuseppe Perovani, 1796

File:Lansdowne portrait.png|Engraving: General Washington by James Heath, 1800

File:George Washington.PNG|Engraving: George Washington by Alonzo Chappel,

File:01368u.jpg|Engraving: George Washington by Karl Augustus Weidenbach, 1876

</gallery>

See also

  • Art in the White House

Notes

References

  • "The Portrait." George Washington: A National Treasure. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. georgewashington.si.edu
  • Kellogg, Stuart. "By George!" Victor Valley Daily Press (CA). November 16, 2002.
  • Google Art Project: White House copy, Brooklyn Museum copy
  • Carrie Rebora Barratt and Ellen G. Miles, Gilbert Stuart, (2004), a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • "Artist Gilbert Stuart's Portraits of George Washington", from History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives