The Painter's Chair
Read The Painter's Chair Online
Authors: Hugh Howard
THE PAINTER’S CHAIR
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Houses of the Founding Fathers
Dr. Kimball and Mr. Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson, Architect
House-Dreams
The Preservationist’s Progress
THE PAINTER’S CHAIR
George Washington and the Making of American Art
HUGH HOWARD
Copyright © 2009 by Hugh Howard
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from
the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address Bloomsbury
Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Published by Bloomsbury Press, New York
All papers used by Bloomsbury Press are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in well-managed forests. The manufacturing
processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Howard, Hugh, 1952–
The painter’s chair : George Washington and the making of American art / by Hugh Howard.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
eISBN: 978-1-60819-191-8
1. Washington, George, 1732–1799—Portraits. 2. Portrait painting, American—18th century. I. Title.
N7628.W3H42 2009
757'.3097309033—dc22
2008028228
First U.S. Edition 2009
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Designed by Sara Stemen
Typeset by Westchester Book Group
Printed in the United States of America by Quebecor World Fairfield
To Denise Levertov,
Ivan Galantic,
and G. Carter Wilson,
three teachers who
encouraged
a young writer
“I am so hackneyed to the touches of the painters pencil,
that I am now altogether at their beck . . . no dray
moves more readily to the Thill,
than I do to the Painters Chair.”
—George Washington,
writing to Francis Hopkinson,
May 16, 1785
AUTHOR’ S NOTE
O
NE VERSION OF America’s most famous painting costs only a dollar. In fact, it
is
a dollar. Go ahead, reach into your wallet and pull out a Washington. Within the oval frame on the obverse, as they say in
the world of currency, a face looks back at you. Obviously, it is the face of our first president. Less obviously, it is a
1796 rendering of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart.
From today’s vantage, the eighteenth century seems a small place. As thirteen coastal colonies became a republic, the political
power remained in the hands of just dozens of individuals. Like the balls on a billiard table, this finite number of men,
along with the women who influenced them, repeatedly collided. The ricochet patterns that emerged shaped American society,
government, and economics for everyone else.
Despite the kinetic energy of the era, its central figure maintained an awesome stillness. George Washington’s decisive presence
first bowled over the “invincible” British army; later, as the Confederation threatened to spin off in all directions, the
General’s sheer gravitas was the unifying force that made possible the establishment of the constitutional union. Still later,
as fractious political parties emerged during his presidency, Washington proved to be a long-legged colossus capable of straddling
the two camps, somehow managing to remain largely above the fray but able to corral and contain the combatants.
In the country house that was American culture in the second half of the eighteenth century, the art of the time was just
as Washington-centric. The revolutionary era saw the emergence of the first American high-art painters. More sophisticated
than the earlier limners, these young colonials had not only a native skill at drawing but also a learned appreciation for
larger artistic currents. In journeys abroad, they were exposed to great art in the western tradition—works by van Dyck, Raphael,
Titian, and Rubens—as well as contemporary English portraiture and history painting. Such men as Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827),
John Trumbull (1756–1843), and Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828) returned to America from foreign travels with an understanding of
aesthetic theory.
This book observes Washington in their company. The conceit is simple: Seeing him through their eyes is like being in his
presence during the nearly three decades he was a national figure. While looking at the artists who made likenesses of him
from life, we will examine the lives of the painters. Just as they studied their most famous sitter, we will observe them
in their quest to establish painting in America as both worthy of its Eu rope an antecedents yet different and uniquely American.
Every detail in this book is drawn from a historic source. I have added no clouds to the sky nor a single side chair to any
drawing room that was not said to have been there. Even so, not every piece of information is beyond dispute. For example,
among art historians healthy debates continue to rage about the first Stuart portrait of Washington, which years later he
claimed he had “rubbed out.” Did he destroy that canvas, or does it survive, overpainted, as the so-called Vaughan Portrait
in the National Gallery? Charles Willson Peale was known to contradict himself in his writings, recollecting details in his
Autobiography
differently from the way he recorded them in his diary decades earlier. Whom should we believe and which is correct?
I have studied the sundry accounts and assembled a narrative that I believe to be true. In acquainting myself with the documentary,
visual, architectural, and other evidence at hand, I made many new eighteenth-century friends. Their paintings and experiences
offer a composite view of Washington. My hope is that
The Painter’s Chair
will put a richer, deeper, more colorful, and more recognizably human expression on the austere countenance looking out at
us from that one-dollar bill.
HUGH HOWARD
Hayes Hill, New York
CONTENTS
THE PLAYERS
(In order of appearance)
FRIENDS AND FAMILY
George Washington
(1732
–
1799)
General and President, retired
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington
(1731
–
1802)
George Washington’s wife of forty years
Tobias Lear
(1762
–
1816)
Secretary and friend to the General
Eleanor (“Nelly”) Parke Custis Lewis
(1779
–
1852)
Martha’s granddaughter
George Washington (“Wash”) Parke Custis
(1781
–
1857)
Nelly’s brother and foster son of the General
Dr. James Craik
(1730
–
1814)
Washington’s physician and friend since their service in the French and Indian War
William Lee
(ca. 1751
–
1828)
Washington’s body servant and, despite his slave status, one of the General’s most trusted war time companions
The Marquis de Lafayette (later, General Lafayette)
(1756
–
1834)
Youthful French nobleman who arrived in America to support the Patriot cause
THE ARTISTS
John Smibert
(1688
–
1751)
A London-trained painter new to America
John Singleton Copley
(1738
–
1815)
The teenage son of a Boston tobacconist
Charles Willson Peale
(1741
–
1827)
A Mary land painter fleeing his creditors
Colonel John Trumbull
(1756
–
1843)
A struggling painter, recently resigned from General Washington’s army
Benjamin West
(1738
–
1820)
Pennsylvania-born painter and confidant of King George III
Gilbert Stuart
(1755
–
1828)
Expatriate painter at work in the Painting Rooms of Mr. West
Jean-Antoine Houdon
(1741
–
1828)
The world-renowned French sculptor
Edward Savage
(1761
–
1817)
An aspiring New England limner come to New York to make his fortune
Rembrandt Peale
(1778
–
1860)
The seventeen-year-old portraitist son of Charles Willson Peale
OTHER FEATURED PLAYERS
George Berkeley
(1685–1753) Dean of Derry
Peter Pelham
(ca. 1695–1751) Painter and engraver
John Hesselius
(1728–1778) Itinerant painter
John Hancock
(1737–1793) President of the Continental Congress
John Adams
(1735–1826) Delegate to the Continental Congress
James Peale
(1749–1831) Soldier in the Continental Army
Sir Joshua Reynolds
(1723–1792) President of the Royal Academy
Benjamin Franklin
(1706–1790) Natural philosopher, minister to France
Thomas Jefferson
(1743–1826) Minister to France
Gouverneur Morris
(1752–1816) New York politician and businessman
Abigail Adams
(1744–1818) Wife of the minister to the Court of St. James’s
Maria Cosway
(1760–1838) Artist and visitor to Paris
General Horatio Gates (ret.)
(1727–1806) Comrade-in-arms of Washington
Sarah Livingston Jay
(1756–1802) Wife of John Jay and impatient patron of Mr. Stuart
General Henry Lee
(1756–1818) “Light Horse Harry,” confidant of General and Mrs. Washington
Anne Willing Bingham
(1764–1801) A leader of Philadelphia society