Enlightenment

Gilbert Stuart

George Washington (Lansdowne Portrait)

1796

Oil on canvas, 97 1/2 × 62 1/2 in. National Portrait Gallery, Washington

A president in a plain black suit among the props of a European state portrait: the old formula adapted for a republic.

Look at

• Column, swagged curtain and gilt chair close in around the figure, with openings to blue sky at upper left and a rainbow at upper right.
• The black suit is the darkest mass in the picture, so the figure reads clearly against the warm reds.
• The open hand extends to the left, the only strong gesture in an otherwise upright, still figure.

• Senator William Bingham and his wife Anne commissioned it as a gift for the Marquess of Lansdowne; the pose is thought to recall Washington's speech to Congress of December 1795.
• Bought for the National Portrait Gallery in 2001 with a gift from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.

Image: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution · CC0