New Portrait of George Washington | by Igor Babailov (2024)

FAQs

What is the most accurate portrait of George Washington? ›

Today, Houdon's sculpture is recognized by historians, as the most accurate likeness ever created of the First President. Igor Babailov used his mastery and professional expertise to transform this sculpted and most accurate likeness of George Washington into a realistic portrait painting.

Stuart decided he didn't want to part with the portrait and so left it unfinished so he could refer to it for future paintings. The title “Athenaeum” refers to the Boston Athenaeum, where the painting went after Stuart's death.

The facial structure conveyed in Mount Vernon's and other Stuart portraits of Washington is striking. The most prominent aspect of the Athenaeum portraits—and that which has been frequently discussed in relation to the works—is the visible swelling and discomfort around the mouth.

Gilbert Stuart's second and most important life portrait of George Washington was an oil painting executed in 1796. Best known as the image on the one-dollar bill, it is considered the most famous painting of the first president.

George Washington is a statue by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon from the late 18th century. Based on a life mask and other measurements of George Washington taken by Houdon, it is considered one of the most accurate depictions of the subject.

Contemporaries who gazed upon Washington seemed to see more than a man. Descriptions of him bordered on mythical. His head, said an observer, was “well shaped . . . gracefully poised on a superb neck,” with “a large and straight” nose, “blue grey penetrating eyes,” high cheek bones, and a large mouth.

During the War of 1812, First Lady Dolley Madison famously saved the portrait from near-certain demise. Before vacating the premises on August 24, 1814, Mrs. Madison ordered that official papers and the Washington portrait should be saved from British hands.

Like, say, George Washington on the dollar bill. How much do we know about the most familiar image that appears on American money? And how is it, exactly, that Gilbert Stuart's portrait of our first President wound up on the dollar bill? Stuart grew up in Rhode Island and moved to Scotland in 1771, when he was 16.

George Washington did not have a middle name.

National Portrait Gallery

Lansdowne portrait / Location

Who did George Washington marry? ›

As the wife of George Washington, the first President of the United States, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington is considered to be the first First Lady, but the title was not coined until after her death.

George Washington did not have any children. Despite that fact, there were always children at Mount Vernon. They raised Martha Washington's two children from a previous marriage, as well as her four grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.

Numerous other artists also painted copies. In 2001, to preclude the original portrait's possible sale at auction, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. purchased it for $20 million.

In accepting the presidency of what was still an experiment in republican democracy, Washington proved a model of confidence and restraint. For example, his decision to serve no more than two terms set a lasting precedent.

George Washington, c. 1821. The leading portraitist of a new nation, Gilbert Stuart painted each of the first five US presidents from life. Trained in England and Ireland, the artist introduced a looser, brushy style to American portraits, painting figures that were both grand and lifelike.