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Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755–1828)
George Washington (the Athenaeum portrait), 1796
Oil on canvas; 48 x 37 in. (121.9 x 94 cm)
Jointly owned by the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington (NPG.80.115), and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1980.1); William Francis Warden Fund, John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund, Commonwealth Cultural Preservation Trust
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Stuart recognized that he should use this portrait to fulfill his many orders for replicas and received Washington's permission to keep it. Washington agreed to this and requested a replica for himself, but Stuart never delivered portraits to the Washington family. The strikingly fresh aspect of this life portrait of Washington comes from Stuart's application of subtly varied skin tones in separate, unblended touches of the brush. His technique is visible even in the shaded areas under the chin, where Stuart alternated darker and lighter flesh tones to indicate shadow and reflected light. The president's white-powdered hair and blue eyes stand out in contrast.
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