George Washington brought the gift of his cast-iron character to the turbulence of early American life. "This Vesuvius of a man," as a biographer described him, who was threatened always by the eruption of his own fierce irritability, achieved a serene and compelling dignity of presence that portraitists transformed into the very image of republican majesty.

Gilbert Stuart painted this celebrated "Lansdowne" portrait in his Germantown, Pennsylvania, studio in 1796. It was commissioned by William Bingham, United States senator from Pennsylvania, and his wife, for the Earl of Shelburne, later Marquis of Lansdowne, who had defended the rebellious colonies in Parliment.

George Washington (Lansdowne portrait)
by Gilbert Stuart, oil on canvas, 1796
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
Acquired as a gift to the nation through the generosity of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.

Enlarged image

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