Imagining George Washington

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Imagining George Washington
The Boglewood Catalog of Images Published during his Life

Image Sources: Charles Willson Peale

CHARLES WILLSON PEALE was George Washington's first portraitist, and one of the most influential. Aided by multiple sittings, Peale painted more than 65 documented portraits of Washington. Many were copies of his own

originals, and others differed only in placing one of his Washington likenesses in new surroundings or different poses. The influence of his paintings as a source for prints is based upon five principal portrait types.

Peale Type A

Oil on canvas.
50" x 40" (1772)

Washington sat for his first Peale painting at Mount Vernon on 20-22 May 1772. The painting, which depicts Washington as a colonel in the Virginia militia, remained hanging at Mount Vernon until it passed to George Washington Parke Custis upon the death of his grandmother, Martha Custis Washington. The painting is now in the collection of Washington and Lee University.

	*Print based on Peale Type A*
	Boglewood 1101

Peale Type B

Oil on canvas.
(1776)

John Hancock commissioned this Peale painting of Washington while Hancock was serving as president of the Continental Congress of 1776. Washington, portrayed in his Continental Army uniform, sat for the painting in Philadelphia on 13 June 1776. The painting is now in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum.


Boglewood 1216	Boglewood 1228	Boglewood 1203
Boglewood 1202		Boglewood 1205	Boglewood1206
Boglewood 1217	Boglewood 1218	Boglewood 1219	Boglewood 1220
Boglewood 1221	Boglewood 1222	Boglewood 1223	Boglewood 1224
Boglewood 1225	Boglewood 1226	Boglewood 1227	Boglewood 1201
Boglewood 1204	Boglewood 1210	Boglewood 1211	Boglewood 1212
Boglewood 1213	Boglewood 1214	Boglewood 1215	Boglewood 1207
Boglewood 1209	Boglewod 1208

Peale Type C

Oil on canvas.
94" x 59" (1779)

The Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania commissioned this Peale painting on 18 January 1779. The painting depicts the battle of Princeton in the background. Peale traveled to Princeton and Trenton in preparation for the work. In 1781, while hanging in the Pennsylvania State House, the painting was damaged by vandals. The painting was returned to Peale, displayed in his museum, and sold in the auction of the museum's assets in October 1854. It is now in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

*Prints based on Peale Type C*
Boglewood 1301	Boglewood 1302	Boglewood1303	Boglewood 1304
Boglewood 1305	Boglewood 1306	Boglewood1307	Boglewood1308

Peale Type D

Oil on canvas.
19" x 23-1/2" (1787)

Washington sat for this painting in Philadelphia on 3-6 and 9 July 1787, during the Constitutional Convention. The painting was sold in October 1854 at the auction of assets of the Peale Museum, and is now in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

	*Prints based on Peale Type D*
		Boglewood1401	Boglewood 1402	Boglewood 1403

Peale Type E

Oil on canvas.
29" x 24" (1795)

Peale introduced an older, more presidential image of Washington in 1795. The portrait, painted in Philadelphia in September 1795, was sold in the auction of Peale Museum assets in October 1854, and is now in the collection of the New York Historical Society.

No print has been identified based upon this image and published in Washington's lifetime.

Peale Type not identified

The prints grouped here are identified in Hart as Peale-based, but are not illustrated nor otherwise described by Hart in sufficient detail to determine their Peale Type.

*Prints based on unidentified Peale Type*
Boglewood 1551	Boglewood 1552	Boglewood 1553	Boglewood 1554