Portrait of George Washington (1732-1799)

Date1800-1825 (probably)

After work by Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828) (1755-1825)

MediumOil on canvas (a twill-weave, medium-weight linen)

DimensionsUnframed: 29 1/8 x 24 1/8in. (74 x 61.3cm) and Framed: 32 1/4 x 27 x 2 1/2in. (81.9 x 68.6 x 6.4cm)

Credit LineGift of Anne Marie Johnston and Susan Yates Johnston

Object number1986-266,A&C

DescriptionA bust-length portrait of a man turned one-quarter towards the viewer's right, eyes toward viewer. He wears a powered wig with curls over the ears, the back hair tied at the nape with ribbon. He has blue eyes and a rosy complexion. He wears a black coat and waistcoat, a white stock, and a white ruffled shirt. The background is bright red shifting to brown/black at the top and right edges.
The frame is a modern, black-painted, cyma recta molded one.
Label TextMany viewers recognize this portrait of George Washington---or think they do. In actuality, it is a copy of a widely-known work by Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828). The identity of the copyist has not yet been determined.
Stuart's first Washington portrait of this type was executed in Philadelphia in 1795. Later scholars dubbed his painting "the Vaughan portrait," after its original owner, Samuel Vaughan, an American merchant then living in London. The instant success and overwhelming popularity of the likeness led Stuart to execute numerous replicas of it for other clients. Other artists also exploited Stuart's triumph by rendering their own copies.
Because of its red background, this copy is assumed to derive from one of at least nine Stuart "Vaughan-type" portraits that incorporate such a setting. Although it closely follows Stuart's original composition, the copy is a fine painting in its own right, with stylizations of planar definition and coloring that give it great graphic appeal.
ProvenanceOral tradition supplied by the donors was that the painting descended within their family from George Johnston of Alexandria, Virginia, described by them as a friend of Washington's and a member of the House of Burgesses.

However, information supplied October 13, 1997, by the donors' mother, Mrs. Joanne Johnston, included a 1766 death date for George Johnston. If correct, then, it would have been impossible for George Johnston to have owned the painting (since it copies a Gilbert Stuart composition first executed in 1795).

Joanne Johnston's notes (referenced above) appear to state that George Johnston had a son, William, who was born in 1752 and died April 13, 1815. Might this man have been the first owner of acc. no. 1986-266?