George Washington: A National Treasure - Softcover

Brookhiser, Richard; National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution)

9780295982373: George Washington: A National Treasure

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0295982373 ISBN 13: 9780295982373

Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr, 2002

George Washington: A National Treasure celebrates our nation�s permanent acquisition of Gilbert Stuart�s magnificent "Landsdowne" portrait of George Washington. Commissioned for the Marquis of Lansdowne, a British supporter of American independence, the painting shows Washington in the last year of his presidency, 1796. Here is a George Washington for the ages, resolute in the face of the multiple crises of our nation�s beginnings; grand in the tradition not of a king but of democracy�s representative; civilian rather than military in his authority; and above all, the embodiment of a nation both stable and free. Today the painting provides a way to think about a time when America�s success was by no means certain, about a man whose traits of character became bound up with his nation�s fate, and about the expectation for our nation�s highest office "the presidency" at the very moment of its creation. Filled with symbols of Washington himself and of the new republic, the painting speaks to Americans today as much as it did in the late eighteenth century.

Lavishly illustrated in color with details of the Lansdowne portrait itself, with other portraits of Washington--contemporary and modern--and with portraits of Washington�s colleagues, the book is a treasure in and of itself. Essays reflect on how this remarkable painting explains the nature of Washington and his importance in the national psyche, discuss how Washington came to sit for the Lansdowne painting and the work�s ownership throuout the years, and consider Gilbert Stuart�s portraits of George Washington, and their many copies. A chronology highlights Washington�s life and times.

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About the Author:

Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor at National Review and a columnist for the New York Observer. His previous books include Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington and Alexander Hamilton: American. Margaret C. S. Christman is a historian at the National Portrait Gallery. She is the author of 1846: Portrait of the Nation and The Spirit of Party: Hamilton and Jefferson at Odds. Ellen G. Miles is curator of painting and sculpture at the National Portrait Gallery. Her previous publications include A Brush with History: Paintings from the National Portrait Gallery and George and Martha Washington: Portraits from the Presidential Years.

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