AFTER Gilbert Charles Stuart (1755-1828)

This George Washington portrait is a copy of Gilbert Stuart's famous Athenaeum portrait which was begun in 1796 and left unfinished at the time of Stuart's death in 1828. Stuart made approximately 100 versions of this life portrait, which were then copied extensively by other artists.
Stuart's portraits of Washington are grouped in categories named after the first owners of the original portraits from which Stuart and his followers made replicas. The Athenaeum received its moniker in 1831 when his daughter sold the painting to the Boston Athenaeum.