National Park Service Museum Collections, American Revolutionary War: Independence NHP
Photo of painting. See below for details.


GEORGE WASHINGTON

1749-1831
by James Peale, after Charles Willson Peale
c. 1787-1790


Oil on canvas.
36 ½ in H x 27 13/16 in W

Independence NHP
INDE 14171

About this Portrait:
Oil on canvas. Three-quarter length, standing with body turned toward the subject’s left. Blue uniform coat with buff facings, gold epaulettes with three stars each. Buff waistcoat. White stock, jabot and cuff. Powdered hair, blue eyes. Right hand holding gold sword hilt, glove, black tricorner hat. Two uniformed and armed men (James and Charles Willson Peale) standing behind subject’s right shoulder under tree. Column of uniformed soldiers, one carrying the French flag, in the right midground. 36 ½ inches H x 27 13/16 inches W.

Ownership History:
Possibly purchased by John Dunlap from the Peale family at an unknown date. Purchased by John Binns from John Dunlap c. 1810. Purchased by the City of Philadelphia from John Binns in 1849.

harles Willson Peale's 1787 museum portrait of Washington provided the artist's younger brother James (1749-1831) with a source for his own c. 1790 portrait of the general at the battle of Yorktown. The Charles Willson Peale portrait is now owned by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

James Peale borrowed other elements from his brother's work for this painting. The background landscape is possibly from Charles Willson Peale's 1784 full length portrait of Washington that is now owned by the Fogg Museum of Art. Perhaps in reference to the two brothers' joint Revolutionary experience, James included them in the painting directly behind Washington. Several of James' copies of the museum Washington portrait with varying backgrounds exist, along with others by the Peales' nephew, Charles Peale Polk, in public and private collections.