Not long after George Washington's death in 1799, Rembrandt Peale began to think about creating a definitive portrait of him that combined physical likeness with the full grandeur of his character and accomplishment. Using the Washington likeness he had painted in 1795 as his starting point, he came up with image after image, all of which he found wanting. Finally, in 1823, he decided to have one more try. The result was the original version of this portrait, which at last measured up to his expectations. Framed in stone to underscore the monumentality of the subject, the image became known as "Patriae Pater," and it was Peale's ambition to make it the main likeness by which posterity would know Washington. In the end, however, Peale's Washington never became the national icon that its maker hoped it would be, and today Americans know Washington best through the much-replicated likeness that Gilbert Stuart painted of him in 1796.

Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860)
oil on canvas, probably 1853
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
gift of an anonymous donor
NPG.75.4

Enlarged image