George Washington Lansdowne Portrait (after Gilbert Stuart)

TITLE	George Washington Lansdowne Portrait (after Gilbert Stuart)
CREATOR	unknown
DATE	1838
DIMENSIONS	93 x 59 in.
ORIGINAL FORMAT	Painting
MEDIUM	Oil on canvas
DONOR	Honorable Samuel Larned
DATE OF ACCESSION	1838
LOCATION	Providence Athenæum: Reading Room

In 1796, Gilbert Stuart painted a portrait of George Washington for William Petty, first Marquis of Lansdowne, who helped shape the 1783 peace between the United States and Great Britain following the American Revolution and the Jay Treaty of 1796.

The copy of the Lansdowne portrait that hangs in the Athenæum was painted by an unnamed "accomplished Italian artist," and was given to the library by Samuel Larned (1788–1846), a Providence merchant and the Chargé d'Affaires to Chile and Peru. He donated the portrait on the 1838 opening of the Benefit Street building, with the hope that its placement in the public halls of the library would encourage the virtuous and patriotic character of Providence’s youth.

Lancaster, Jane. Inquire Within: A Social History of the Providence Athenæum Since 1753. Providence Athenæum, 2003, pp. 64, 124, 126.

"George Washington." The Providence Athenæum, 2019, www.providenceathenaeum.org/collections/art-collection/painting/. Accessed 28 June 2019.

Annual Report of the Directors of the Providence Athenæum to the Proprietors. Providence, Providence Athenæum, 1898, p.10.

Chin, Sarah. “George Washington/Lansdowne Portrait.” 2016. ARTH 401: Cataloguing Curiosity, Wheaton College, student paper.

Leonard, Grace Fisher. The Providence Athenæum: A Brief History. Providence, Privately Printed, 1939.

"George Washington (Lansdowne Portrait)", National Portrait Gallery, www.npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2001.13. Accessed 21 June 2019.

The Providence Athenæum

Digital Art Collection

George Washington Lansdowne Portrait (after Gilbert Stuart)

TAGS