George Washington (1732-1799)

Stuart created more than a hundred portraits of George Washington. Scholars group them into three types, named for their original owners: the unfinished “[Boston] Athenaeum” portraits, showing the left side of Washington’s face (such as the image on the U.S. dollar); the Samuel “Vaughan” portraits, which show the right side of Washington’s face; and the full-length “Lansdowne” portraits. In this example of the Vaughan type, the second-term president looks majestic and vigorous in his advanced years. He is positioned in three-quarter profile against a sweeping curtain that symbolizes state authority. His hair, styled in what’s called a soldier’s queue and tied with a sawtooth bow, appears freshly cut and powdered. The upturned collar of his velvet suitcoat projects height and wealth. The portrait represents Washington as an august actor on the world stage and suggests how gender, race, and visual scale can engage and inform ideologies of power.