G.WASHINGTON
Dateca. 1790
Painter and engraver
Joseph Wright
MediumBlack and white etching with drypoint
DimensionsOval: OH: 3 3/16" x OW: 2 1/2"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund
Object number2010-17
DescriptionA banner in the lower portion of the printed area reads: "G. WASHINGTON./ J. Wright Pinx.t & F.t" The term "pinxt" refers to painted and "ft" refers to fecit or engraved.
Label TextOn June 10, 1790, Thomas Jefferson purchased a small etching of General George Washington and sent it to his daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph, noting "I now inclose [sic] you an engraving of the President done by Wright who drew the picture of him which I have at Paris." Thanks to the Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections, the Foundation now owns one of only eight known examples of this rare and important profile portrait (right/left). Made in Philadelphia, the image served as the prototype for medals, medallions, and subsequent prints of the nation's foremost hero. Architect and writer Fiske Kimball wrote that the print "must be accounted among the most influential of his portraits, sharing with Stuart's three-quarter views and Houdon's bust [in] the creation of the President's likeness as it exists in the mind of the public." Despite its original popularity, extant copies of the etching are extremely rare. After years of searching, we are pleased to add this one to the collections. The likeness joins five medals that bear Wright's profile of Washington.
Ca. 1650 (Textile)
ca. 1790
Jan. 15, 1773
August 14, 1765
ca. 1770
1761-1766
1735