Of the hundreds of paintings of George Washington that I have seen in my lifetime, I could not ever recall him shown wearing a red coat. That is why I acquired this stunning example and it�s hard to disagree that the difference from the norm is rather dramatic. The pose faces the opposite direction from most, as well, which adds to the contrast.
Then I was alerted by a collector to a seldom-cited portrait of Washington, tucked away in a museum in uptown Manhattan called The Frick Collection. The portrait is by none other than Gilbert Stuart and shows Washington at an advanced age, evidently painted from life in 1795-96 (according to the Frick�s dating), also in a red jacket.
This copy isn�t exactly a copy at all, because the style of the coat is different, the background is different, and it shows the beloved father of our country at a much younger age, rosy-cheeked and even more youthful that he appears in the far more famous rendition by Stuart that appears on the current U.S. dollar. This is therefore a copy in the manner and spirit of Stuart, combining and modifying his work.
Though the artist who painted Washington here, ca 1840-70, is anonymous, his hand is highly skilled and the work is particularly strong in quality. This makes it not only a potentially great addition to any Washington collection, but also the kind of �one-of� that an Americana collector can buy who�s always wanted a Washington portrait, but has never bought one because he/she has been waiting for that one work that is different from the masses seen over the course of any particular year in the antiques marketplace.
Mounting: The work has been placed in a ca 1820-1850 gilded molding with extraordinarily great orange overtones; the best color in gilded American frames. |