Portrait of George Washington

1822
Gilbert Stuart

Hero of the War of Independence against Great Britain, George Washington became the first president of the United States of America. Gilbert Stuart (1755−1828), his principal portrait painter, produced a hundred works based on the traditional European model for portraits of sovereigns, as here, in which he places Washington against the background of a red drape and a rainbow, the symbol of the promised land in the Bible and a metaphor here of hope in a new nation. However, art no longer had the purpose of glorifying a princely figure as a hero. With his sober dress and serene expression of maturity, Washington is shown working for his people as a man of action and vision, his hand resting with assurance on a document. In this solemn portrait, the focus is on his subject’s psychological strength, his visionary gaze, and the experience acquired with age.