HISTORY THROUGH THE ARTISTS’ EYES: THE LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON Cheryl Metz, NBCT Teaching American History Grant – Freedom Project Rockford District # Teacher Resources

HOW DO YOU READ A PAINTING?  Much the same as you would any primary source document – you use your observation skills to identify details, objects, hints of authors’ bias, and the big idea about the person or object represented that the painter wished to portray  Pose questions about the painting the same way you pose questions over text as a reader: What is the artist’s purpose in painting the subject? What objects are used to symbolize ideas about the artist’s story? When looking at two different artistic interpretations of the same object, how are the representations similar? Different? How does the setting (backdrop) add to the story of the subject painted?

REHEARSAL: READING A PAINTING  Let’s look at an example together – Let’s take a trip to one of the most famous paintings of our beloved first President, George, and examine how historians view this painting. You will be able to read and/or listen to the interpretations of historians at… Lansdowne Interactive Portrait Smithsonian Institution

TASK 1: YOU’RE THE HISTORIAN From the next several slides with portraits of George Washington, select the one that interests you most (or that your teacher assigns to you if working in groups), and use the graphic organizer handout to analyze elements of the picture in the same ways as you saw in the online model with the Lansdowne portrait.graphic organizer handout Remember, it’s your job to explain each minute detail so we might have some idea as to the time when the painting was done and its purpose for the time. What is George’s portrait trying to tell us?

Date: ? Artist: Joseph Wright Joseph Wright

Date: ? Artist: Charles Charles Willson Peale

Date: 1787 Artist: Charles Charles Willson Peale ?

Date: 1795 ? Artist: Gilbert Stuart Gilbert Stuart

Date: 1790 ? Artist: John Ramage John Ramage

Date: ? Artist: Charles Charles Willson Peale

Date: 1787 ? Artist: Edward Savage Edward Savage

Date: 1789 ? Artist: Edward Savage Edward Savage

Date: 1780 ? Artist: John Trumbull John Trumbull

Date: ? Artist: Charles Charles Willson Peale

Date: ? Artist: Joseph Wright Joseph Wright

Date: ? Artist: Charles Charles Willson Peale

Date: 1796 ? Artist: Gilbert Stuart Gilbert Stuart

Date: ? Artist: Edward Savage Edward Savage

Date: 1787 ? Artist: Charles Charles Willson Peale

Artist: John Trumbull John Trumbull Date: ?

FINDING THE “REAL” WASHINGTON So now that you’ve analyzed at least one of the paintings, how do you decide how accurately the artist portrayed his subject? One way is to look at Washington’s life mask, a plaster cast taken by a French sculptor, Jean-Antoine Houdon, in Look on the next slide at this mask, then click on it to go to an interactive site with a short history of how the mask was used for other types of art based on George Washington.

Click on picture to go to interactive site

TASK 2: TAKING ORDERS  Now that you’ve heard more background information from the other students in your class about each portrait, let’s see if you can help George put his life back in order!  Look at the next slide, and on your sequence sheet try to match the letter of the print with the correct date of its creation. When you are finished, the slide after will show you the correct sequence as you click on the slide.sequence sheet

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LEARN MORE?  To discover more about the life of Washington, click on the link below that contains an interactive timeline on his life: Discover the Real George Washington: Views From Mount Vernon  For information including his papers and writing, click below: George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress

John Trumbull: George Washington. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. (May 2009) Charles Willson Peale: Washington, Lafayette and Tilghman at Yorktown.(1784) Maryland: State Archives. c-w-peale-pinx c-w-peale-pinx-1782 Charles Willson Peale: George Washington New York: Historical Society. John Ramage: George Washington. (1789) Washington, D.C.: National Portrait Gallery. John Trumbull: Declaration of Independence. Gilbert Stuart: Self Portrait. Thomas Jefferson Monticello. Joseph Wright. washington-joseph-wright-engravinghttp:// washington-joseph-wright-engraving John Ramage Miniature Desk

White House Artifacts: Bas-Relief of George Washington Charles Willson Peale. George Washington in the Uniform of a British Colonial Colonel. Washington-Custis-Lee Collection, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA. Portraits in Revolution. His Excel: G: Washington Esq: L.L.D. Late commander in chief of the armies of the U.S. of America & president of the Convention of The Frick Collection: George Washington (Vaughn collection of Stuart canvas) 34bd90ba37be 34bd90ba37be Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts: George Washington. Charles Willson Peale Collection/Category/Collection-Detail/985/let--P/mkey--1591/nameid--522/ Discover the Real George Washington: New Views From Mount Vernon George Washington: A National Treasure. Lansdowne Portrait Interactive. Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

Charles Willson Peale, c Charles Willson Peale Born in 1741, C.W. Peale became one of the greatest portraitists of the Revolutionary Period and after. Having sought advice of the great Bostonian painter Copley, he was supported by several sponsors in Annapolis, who sent him to London in 1767 to study with the renowned painter, Benjamin West. After two years, he returned to paint portraits of many colonial leaders including Washington both as General and President. He served in the Revolution, and in 1802 displayed his many portraits at Independence Hall, establishing the first museum in the new United States of America. BACK

Charles Willson Peale, c Charles Willson Peale Born in 1741, C.W. Peale became one of the greatest portraitists of the Revolutionary Period and after. Having sought advice of the great Bostonian painter Copley, he was supported by several sponsors in Annapolis, who sent him to London in 1767 to study with the renowned painter, Benjamin West. After two years, he returned to paint portraits of many colonial leaders including Washington both as General and President. He served in the Revolution, and in 1802 displayed his many portraits at Independence Hall, establishing the first museum in the new United States of America. BACK

Charles Willson Peale, c Charles Willson Peale Born in 1741, C.W. Peale became one of the greatest portraitists of the Revolutionary Period and after. Having sought advice of the great Bostonian painter Copley, he was supported by several sponsors in Annapolis, who sent him to London in 1767 to study with the renowned painter, Benjamin West. After two years, he returned to paint portraits of many colonial leaders including Washington both as General and President. He served in the Revolution, and in 1802 displayed his many portraits at Independence Hall, establishing the first museum in the new United States of America. BACK

Charles Willson Peale, c Charles Willson Peale Born in 1741, C.W. Peale became one of the greatest portraitists of the Revolutionary Period and after. Having sought advice of the great Bostonian painter Copley, he was supported by several sponsors in Annapolis, who sent him to London in 1767 to study with the renowned painter, Benjamin West. After two years, he returned to paint portraits of many colonial leaders including Washington both as General and President. He served in the Revolution, and in 1802 displayed his many portraits at Independence Hall, establishing the first museum in the new United States of America. BACK

Charles Willson Peale, c Charles Willson Peale Born in 1741, C.W. Peale became one of the greatest portraitists of the Revolutionary Period and after. Having sought advice of the great Bostonian painter Copley, he was supported by several sponsors in Annapolis, who sent him to London in 1767 to study with the renowned painter, Benjamin West. After two years, he returned to paint portraits of many colonial leaders including Washington both as General and President. He served in the Revolution, and in 1802 displayed his many portraits at Independence Hall, establishing the first museum in the new United States of America. BACK

Charles Willson Peale, c Charles Willson Peale Born in 1741, C.W. Peale became one of the greatest portraitists of the Revolutionary Period and after. Having sought advice of the great Bostonian painter Copley, he was supported by several sponsors in Annapolis, who sent him to London in 1767 to study with the renowned painter, Benjamin West. After two years, he returned to paint portraits of many colonial leaders including Washington both as General and President. He served in the Revolution, and in 1802 displayed his many portraits at Independence Hall, establishing the first museum in the new United States of America. BACK

John Ramage Ramage was the first successful Irish painter in America, specializing in creating miniature portraits for which he also created the frames, using his skills as a goldsmith. He was a loyalist who joined with the British troops six months after the Battle of Bunker Hill. He painted many important Revolutionaries before leaving the country in 1996 for Canada in order to escape imprisonment for huge debts he had acquired. Ramage’s work desk Click to see movie BACK

Edward Savage A silversmith and engraver prior to 1789, Edward began working as a portrait painter around He had the Washington family members sit for individual portraits in the winter of in New York City. He originally began a portrait engraved on a copperplate. He then left for London, where he studied under Benjamin West, the painter of Treaty at Shackamaxon 1682, the signing of the treaty between William Penn and Tamanend, chief of the Lenni Lenape. After his England stay, he returned to recreate the Washingtons in a group portrait, The Washington Family. The Savage family, ca BACK

Edward Savage A silversmith and engraver prior to 1789, Edward began working as a portrait painter around He had the Washington family members sit for individual portraits in the winter of in New York City. He originally began a portrait engraved on a copperplate. He then left for London, where he studied under Benjamin West, the painter of Treaty at Shackamaxon 1682, the signing of the treaty between William Penn and Tamanend, chief of the Lenni Lenape. After his England stay, he returned to recreate the Washingtons in a group portrait, The Washington Family. The Savage family, ca BACK

Edward Savage A silversmith and engraver prior to 1789, Edward began working as a portrait painter around He had the Washington family members sit for individual portraits in the winter of in New York City. He originally began a portrait engraved on a copperplate. He then left for London, where he studied under Benjamin West, the painter of Treaty at Shackamaxon 1682, the signing of the treaty between William Penn and Tamanend, chief of the Lenni Lenape. After his England stay, he returned to recreate the Washingtons in a group portrait, The Washington Family. The Savage family, ca BACK

Gilbert Stuart An American-born artist, Stuart began his career in the colonies, then left in 1775 for England, where he also studied under Benjamin West in London for nearly 18 years. Having money problems due to a lavish lifestyle, he was thrown in debtors prison, but was regularly visited by those of the upper class requesting their portraits from him. He returned to New York in 1793, then moved to Philadelphia in order to paint George Washington; his unfinished Athenaeum portrait of him is the one that adorns the $1 bill. Self-portrait c BACK

Gilbert Stuart An American-born artist, Stuart began his career in the colonies, then left in 1775 for England, where he also studied under Benjamin West in London for nearly 18 years. Having money problems due to a lavish lifestyle, he was thrown in debtors prison, but was regularly visited by those of the upper class requesting their portraits from him. He returned to New York in 1793, then moved to Philadelphia in order to paint George Washington; his unfinished Athenaeum portrait of him is the one that adorns the $1 bill. Self-portrait c BACK

John Trumbull Trumbull, a colonel in the Continental Army and aide to Gen. Washington in the American Revolution, was one of the greatest of the painters of his time; four of his paintings hang in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. His passion for this artwork was summarized in a letter he wrote to Jefferson in 1789: "The greatest motive I had or have for engaging in or for continuing my pursuit of painting has been the wish of commemorating the great events of our country's Portrait by Stuart Gilbert Back of $2 bill: Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence BACK

John Trumbull Trumbull, a colonel in the Continental Army and aide to Gen. Washington in the American Revolution, was one of the greatest of the painters of his time; four of his paintings hang in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. His passion for this artwork was summarized in a letter he wrote to Jefferson in 1789: "The greatest motive I had or have for engaging in or for continuing my pursuit of painting has been the wish of commemorating the great events of our country's Portrait by Stuart Gilbert Back of $2 bill: Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence BACK

Joseph Wright New Jersey-born, Wright’s artistic skills may have come from his sculptor mother, Patience Lovell Wright. However, he did study in England at the Royal Arts Academy, and later painted Franklin’s portrait in Paris, France. That connection later led to him being named the first Mint Engraver for the United States. In 1782 he returned to America, being one of only two artists to cast Washington in plaster. He created Washington’s portrait in several different mediums. Jefferson said of him, "I have no hesitation in pronouncing Wright's drawing to be a better likeness of the General than Peale’s.” (1795) Self-portrait, c BACK

Joseph Wright New Jersey-born, Wright’s artistic skills may have come from his sculptor mother, Patience Lovell Wright. However, he did study in England at the Royal Arts Academy, and later painted Franklin’s portrait in Paris, France. That connection later led to him being named the first Mint Engraver for the United States. In 1782 he returned to America, being one of only two artists to cast Washington in plaster. He created Washington’s portrait in several different mediums. Jefferson said of him, "I have no hesitation in pronouncing Wright's drawing to be a better likeness of the General than Peale’s.” (1795) Self-portrait, c BACK