In the 1850s, this painting was erroneously identified as Stuart's first life portrait of Washington. It is now believed to be an early replica, purchased by the Philadelphia merchant John Vaughan from the artist in 1795 for his father, Samuel, who was in London. Stuart probably intended that this portrait would be engraved for the English edition of Johann Caspar Lavater's Essays on Physiognomy, Designed to Promote the Knowledge and the Love of Mankind (London, 1798). He took special care in painting the president's face, possibly working from the portrait of Washington that he admired more than his own, that done in 1785 by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon.