Lot Essay
...About half past two the General returned. [He was] dressed in a blue great coat, large buttons, blue overalls and bespattered boots, a blue coat, coquelico
cassimere waistcoat, blue small clothes, cocked hat with cockade. In conversation he informed us his clothes were all of American manufacture... His demeanor was formal, stiff and reserved.
Joshua Brookes on George Washington, February 1799(1.)
As the ultimate hero of America's War for Independence and the first President of the United States, George Washington was esteemed by the young nation in a manner rarely seen since his death in 1799 and the passage of that generation of Americans in whose cultural memory Washington remained alive. His death initiated one of the longest periods of national mourning in this country's history: Washington was truly, as Henry Lee wrote in a Congressional resolution following the General's death,"...first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." Urban newspapers carried extensive accounts of his funeral procession long after the event was over, and most smaller cities and towns in America recreated the funeral march on the basis of those media reports for local residents to participate in the national catharsis.
Accordingly, in his era, George Washington was the quintessential marketable commodity. Myriad portraits of the General at various stages in his military and political career, as well as portraits of his family, were executed by every major artist in America at the time, whether from life or after the work of another artist. Multiplied as prints, these images of Washington provided not only a certain steady livlihood for their authors, but also a lingering moral and didactic focal point for the nation.
To this end, two of the historical paintings Edward Savage advertised in his museum in Philadelphia (1795-1800), at his Columbian Gallery in New York City(1801-1811) and in his New-York Museum in Boston (1812-1817) were, "A North-East View of Mount Vernon, Painted on the spot," and "A West View of Mount Vernon." That Savage advertised these views over a period of 22 years shows not only a resilient public interest in the subject, but it also suggests Savage probably painted more than one version of the East and West Mount Vernon views. That his description of at least one of the landscapes indicated it was "painted on the spot," compared from hastily executed sketches worked into a painting at a later point, supports this idea. Nonetheless, the only other views of Mount Vernon by Savage known include a second similar pair of the same views in the collection of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, as well as a fireboard showing the west front view in the Garbish Collection, National Gallery of Art. Together with a plan of Mount Vernon executed in 1787, several aquatints of the subject by the artist Parkyns in 1795 and a group of three drawings by Mount Vernon by Benjamin Henry Latrobe of 1796, the Savage views offered here are among both the earliest known images of Mount Vernon, as well as the only images of Washington's home completed during the General's lifetime.(2)
Specific architectural and topographic deatils show this view to have been painted after 1787 but before the summer 1792. The View of Mount Vernon from the West shows the building facade, bowling green, General and Mrs. Washington, Nelly Custis and several other figures. The purchase of the dove ornament adorning the cupola in 1787 places the execution of these views after that date. Likewise, during the fall of 1792, Washington directed that the outbuildings be painted, "with red roofs as the others have." While this places the latest date at which the west view could have been painted to summer 1792, its companion view of the east facade, "painted on the spot" as Savage's advertisement explained, pushes the date earlier. The view of Mount Vernon from the east shows the house from the Potomac with four sheep and a clearly delineated paddock below the ha-ha wall. Washington wrote in the summer of 1792, "I have about a dozen deer... which are no longer confined in the paddock which was made for them but range in all my woods..."(3) Accordingly, with the paddock clearly still in existence in the east view, its execution must pre-date Washington's letter; given the season of year shown, a viable date is the summer of 1791.
Although no specific reference to Savage at Mount Vernon exists, 1791 is a plausible date for his having been at Mount Vernon as well. Savage knew the General and his family from his previous sittings with them in 1789 that ultimately resulted in three group portraits of the Wasington Family, one at the National Gallery of Art, the other at the Art Institute of Chicago and a third, a sketch, at Winerthur. In preparation for his trip to London toward the end of the summer of 1791, Savage traveled south to paint itinerantly as a means of fund raising for his trip. His stay with the Alston family of Charleston, which resulted in a portrait of Mrs. Alston at one time on loan to the Gibbs Art Memorial of that city, may have coincided with a visit by Washington to William Alston in the spring of 1791. Accordingly, this time frame would place Savage at Mount Vernon in the late spring or early summer of 1791 on his return trip north immediately prior to his voyage to England. This period directly after the Charleston trip also represents an unusual time during which Washington and his family were actually in residence at Mount Vernon, thus suggesting the figures may have been painted from life.(4)
While it has been suggested that the other figured strolling the bowling green may be Mrs. Washington's grandson, George Washington Parke Custis and an aide or other relative, it is an interesting additional coincidence the Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant visited Mount Vernon in June 1791 while detailing his plan for the city of Washington. Accordingly, the possibility exists that "Enfant may be another of the individuals portrayed.
1. R.W.G. Vail, "A Dinner at Mount Vernon: from the Unpublished Journal of Joshua Brookes(1773-1859)," New-York Historical Society Quarterly, vol.31, April 1947, pp.72-86, p.74
2. Stiles T. Colwill, Francis Guy, 1760-1820 (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1981), p.113
3. ibid, p.112.
4. Mount Vernon Ladies Association Annual Report, 1964 (as reprinted in Colwill, pp.112-113).
cassimere waistcoat, blue small clothes, cocked hat with cockade. In conversation he informed us his clothes were all of American manufacture... His demeanor was formal, stiff and reserved.
Joshua Brookes on George Washington, February 1799(1.)
As the ultimate hero of America's War for Independence and the first President of the United States, George Washington was esteemed by the young nation in a manner rarely seen since his death in 1799 and the passage of that generation of Americans in whose cultural memory Washington remained alive. His death initiated one of the longest periods of national mourning in this country's history: Washington was truly, as Henry Lee wrote in a Congressional resolution following the General's death,"...first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." Urban newspapers carried extensive accounts of his funeral procession long after the event was over, and most smaller cities and towns in America recreated the funeral march on the basis of those media reports for local residents to participate in the national catharsis.
Accordingly, in his era, George Washington was the quintessential marketable commodity. Myriad portraits of the General at various stages in his military and political career, as well as portraits of his family, were executed by every major artist in America at the time, whether from life or after the work of another artist. Multiplied as prints, these images of Washington provided not only a certain steady livlihood for their authors, but also a lingering moral and didactic focal point for the nation.
To this end, two of the historical paintings Edward Savage advertised in his museum in Philadelphia (1795-1800), at his Columbian Gallery in New York City(1801-1811) and in his New-York Museum in Boston (1812-1817) were, "A North-East View of Mount Vernon, Painted on the spot," and "A West View of Mount Vernon." That Savage advertised these views over a period of 22 years shows not only a resilient public interest in the subject, but it also suggests Savage probably painted more than one version of the East and West Mount Vernon views. That his description of at least one of the landscapes indicated it was "painted on the spot," compared from hastily executed sketches worked into a painting at a later point, supports this idea. Nonetheless, the only other views of Mount Vernon by Savage known include a second similar pair of the same views in the collection of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, as well as a fireboard showing the west front view in the Garbish Collection, National Gallery of Art. Together with a plan of Mount Vernon executed in 1787, several aquatints of the subject by the artist Parkyns in 1795 and a group of three drawings by Mount Vernon by Benjamin Henry Latrobe of 1796, the Savage views offered here are among both the earliest known images of Mount Vernon, as well as the only images of Washington's home completed during the General's lifetime.(2)
Specific architectural and topographic deatils show this view to have been painted after 1787 but before the summer 1792. The View of Mount Vernon from the West shows the building facade, bowling green, General and Mrs. Washington, Nelly Custis and several other figures. The purchase of the dove ornament adorning the cupola in 1787 places the execution of these views after that date. Likewise, during the fall of 1792, Washington directed that the outbuildings be painted, "with red roofs as the others have." While this places the latest date at which the west view could have been painted to summer 1792, its companion view of the east facade, "painted on the spot" as Savage's advertisement explained, pushes the date earlier. The view of Mount Vernon from the east shows the house from the Potomac with four sheep and a clearly delineated paddock below the ha-ha wall. Washington wrote in the summer of 1792, "I have about a dozen deer... which are no longer confined in the paddock which was made for them but range in all my woods..."(3) Accordingly, with the paddock clearly still in existence in the east view, its execution must pre-date Washington's letter; given the season of year shown, a viable date is the summer of 1791.
Although no specific reference to Savage at Mount Vernon exists, 1791 is a plausible date for his having been at Mount Vernon as well. Savage knew the General and his family from his previous sittings with them in 1789 that ultimately resulted in three group portraits of the Wasington Family, one at the National Gallery of Art, the other at the Art Institute of Chicago and a third, a sketch, at Winerthur. In preparation for his trip to London toward the end of the summer of 1791, Savage traveled south to paint itinerantly as a means of fund raising for his trip. His stay with the Alston family of Charleston, which resulted in a portrait of Mrs. Alston at one time on loan to the Gibbs Art Memorial of that city, may have coincided with a visit by Washington to William Alston in the spring of 1791. Accordingly, this time frame would place Savage at Mount Vernon in the late spring or early summer of 1791 on his return trip north immediately prior to his voyage to England. This period directly after the Charleston trip also represents an unusual time during which Washington and his family were actually in residence at Mount Vernon, thus suggesting the figures may have been painted from life.(4)
While it has been suggested that the other figured strolling the bowling green may be Mrs. Washington's grandson, George Washington Parke Custis and an aide or other relative, it is an interesting additional coincidence the Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant visited Mount Vernon in June 1791 while detailing his plan for the city of Washington. Accordingly, the possibility exists that "Enfant may be another of the individuals portrayed.
1. R.W.G. Vail, "A Dinner at Mount Vernon: from the Unpublished Journal of Joshua Brookes(1773-1859)," New-York Historical Society Quarterly, vol.31, April 1947, pp.72-86, p.74
2. Stiles T. Colwill, Francis Guy, 1760-1820 (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1981), p.113
3. ibid, p.112.
4. Mount Vernon Ladies Association Annual Report, 1964 (as reprinted in Colwill, pp.112-113).