A full length portrait of Washington painted by Stuart is known as the Lansdowne Portrait since it was a gift of the Marquis of Lansdowne. He was an ... ]]> There are three paintings that stand out and are the most popular of George Washington. We all know them and have seen them multiple times either in museums or hanging in the White House. One is even seen every day on the back of our dollar bills. The most famous portraitist for his time is Gilbert Stuart who painted many portraits of George Washington and the next five Presidents of the United States.

The first painting that is probably the best known and also on our dollar bills is the Athenaeum. This is a simple painted of only George Washington’s face. Stuart never officially finished the original but copied it multiple times. He finished the copies and eventually it became known as the Pennington since one of the first owner’s of the painting was named Pennington. The controlled lighting emphasizing and defining Washington’s face and hair made it unique. The face was well centered on the canvas which made it difficult to ignore some of the bold colors and the texture added to the cheeks and nose.

A full length portrait of Washington painted by Stuart is known as the Lansdowne Portrait since it was a gift of the Marquis of Lansdowne. He was an English supporter of the American Independence. This painting was made in 1796 and hangs today in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. It resembles symbolism, artistry, and biographical. The symbolism is the way the objects are interpreted in the portrait. The biography explores the historical events by what was happening in the portrait and the artistry explores the history of the artist and his technique of painting.

Washington Crossing the Delaware was painted in 1851 by Emanuel Leutze. This painting shows a historical happening when Washington crossed the Delaware with several other men willing to fight during the American Revolutionary War. It was a surprise attack in the Battle of Trenton. Today it is displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 2004. Leutze was an American-German.

All of these paintings chronicle events that happened in American history. They are painted with unique styles. They used oils that can be harder to work with at times and they tend to dry quicker which gives evidence of layers of paint especially if a mistake was made. Many times if there is a little mistake it is no big deal but making a big mistake you may have to start all over since covering it up will be hard or nearly impossible. Therefore, particularly Gilbert Stuart was a great painter if he was able to do such detailed portraits and to do so many in a short amount of time. Oil portraits are extremely difficult. These painters deserved the money they earned which was about a $100 a portrait but for that time it was a little more than $4,000 now.