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George Santayana

George Santayana
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
George Biddle, 24 Jan 1885 - 6 Nov 1973
Sitter
George Santayana, 16 Dec 1863 - 26 Sep 1952
Date
1952
Type
Print
Medium
Lithograph on paper
Dimensions
Image: 37.5 × 30.8 cm (14 3/4 × 12 1/8")
Sheet (overall): 37.5 × 30.8 cm (14 3/4 × 12 1/8")
Mat (overall): 61 × 50.8 cm (24 × 20")
Topic
Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Mustache
George Santayana: Male
George Santayana: Education and Scholarship\Educator\Professor\University
George Santayana: Literature\Writer\Poet
George Santayana: Education and Scholarship\Scholar\Philosopher
George Santayana: Literature\Writer\Religious writer
Portrait
Place
Italia\Lazio\Roma\Rome
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift from the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Gift of George Biddle) The Corcoran Gallery of Art, one of the country’s first private museums, was established in 1869 to promote art and American genius. In 2014 the Works from the Corcoran Collection were distributed to institutions in Washington, D.C.
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
© Estate of George Biddle
Object number
NPG.2019.74
Exhibition Label
Born Madrid, Spain
While teaching at Harvard University from 1889 to 1912, the philosopher, poet, and cultural critic George Santayana influenced a rising generation of American leaders. By the age of forty-eight, however, frustration with the “thistles of trivial and narrow scholarship” prompted Santayana to leave the academy and devote the next four decades to European travel and writing. In numerous books and essays, he delved into aspects of philosophy, history, politics, literature, and religion. Yet he is best remembered for trenchant aphorisms, such as “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Santayana was nearly blind and just six months from death when George Biddle visited him in Rome and made the drawing on which this etching is based. Displeased with the result, Santayana commented, “You have given me an ill-natured and unhappy look. I am neither.” Biddle commented wryly in his diary, “Even the greatest philosophers can be vain.”
Nacido en Madrid, España
Como profesor en la Universidad de Harvard de 1889 a 1912, el filósofo, poeta y crítico cultural George Santayana ejerció gran influencia sobre una joven generación de líderes estadounidenses. Sin embargo, a los 48 años, frustrado por los “cardos de la erudición trivial y estrecha” abandonó el mundo académico y se dedicó en las cuatro décadas siguientes a escribir y a viajar por Europa. En numerosos libros y ensayos exploró aspectos de la filosofía, la historia, la política, la literatura y la religión, pero se le recuerda más por sus agudos aforismos, tales como “los que no pueden recordar el pasado están condenados a repetirlo”.
Santayana estaba casi ciego y a seis meses de su muerte cuando George Biddle lo visitó en Roma y creó el dibujo que dio base a este grabado. Descontento, Santayana comentó: “Me haces ver infeliz e irritable, y no soy nada de eso”. Biddle comentó con ironía en su diario: “Hasta los más grandes filósofos pueden ser vanidosos”.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view