GEORGE WASHINGTON

Original 1876 6 1/4 inch x 4 7/8 inch Steel Engraving titled GEORGE WASHINGTON

Portrait of George Washington, half-length, directed to front, head turned and looking to the left, wearing coat open over waistcoat and neckerchief with frill, hair tied into a queue.

George Washington (1732-99) was commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (1775-83) and served two terms as the first U.S. president, from 1789 to 1797. The son of a prosperous planter, Washington was raised in colonial Virginia. As a young man, he worked as a surveyor then fought in the French and Indian War (1754-63). During the American Revolution, he led the colonial forces to victory over the British and became a national hero. In 1787, he was elected president of the convention that wrote the U.S. Constitution. Two years later, Washington became America’s first president and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He died at his Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon, at age 67.

From the unfinished portrait by Gilbert Charles Stuart ( 1755 – 1828). Gilbert Charles Stuart was an American painter from Rhode Island who is widely considered one of America’s foremost portraitists. His best known work is the unfinished portrait of George Washington that is sometimes referred to as The Athenaeum, begun in 1796. Stuart retained the portrait and used it to paint 130 copies which he sold for $100 each. The image of George Washington featured in the painting has appeared on the United States one-dollar bill for more than a century and on various U.S. postage stamps of the 19th century and early 20th century.

From ‘The Royal History of England from the Earliest Period to the Present Time’ by Henry Tyrrell, W.C. Stafford and John Sherer, Published in 1876 by J.G. Murdoch, 41, Castle Street, Holborn, London.

Plate size 11 3/4 inch x 8 3/4 inch

The engraving is in very good condition with minor warping. Reverse side blank.