Gilbert Stuart was a Tory who quit his Rhode Island home to avoid the alarums and excursions of the American Revolution, learned the art of portraiture in London, and returned to paint the first five Presidents of the Republic. He did three original studies of George Washington, from which he made more than 100 copies. The second and least idealized version (see, cut) is the public's favorite painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
The busy President posed only for the grave, ruddy head, but his subject's false teeth gave Stuart trouble, and he never got the...
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