The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Special Exhibitions


	Special Exhibitions

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		Stuart in Newport and Scotland (1755–75)

		Stuart in London (1775–87)

		Stuart in Dublin (1787–93)

		Stuart in New York (1793–94)

		Stuart in Philadelphia (1794–1803)

		The George Washington Gallery

		Stuart in Washington, D.C. (1803–5)

		Stuart in Boston (1805–28)

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	Work 1 of 6

		Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755–1828) George Washington (the Vaughan portrait), 1795 Oil on canvas; 28 3/4 x 23 3/4 in. (73 x 60.5 cm) National Gallery of Art, Washington, Andrew W. Mellon Collection 1942.8.27



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In the 1850s, this painting was erroneously identified as Stuart's first life portrait of Washington. It is now believed to be an early replica, purchased by the Philadelphia merchant John Vaughan from the artist in 1795 for his father, Samuel, who was in London. Stuart probably intended that this portrait would be engraved for the English edition of Johann Caspar Lavater's Essays on Physiognomy, Designed to Promote the Knowledge and the Love of Mankind (London, 1798). He took special care in painting the president's face, possibly working from the portrait of Washington that he admired more than his own, that done in 1785 by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon.

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