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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1960)
Washington's Portrait Painter: GILBERT STUART, Artist By FREDERICK A. SWEET Curator of American Painting and Sculpture, The Art Institute of Chicago Stuart painted this portrait in 1797, but Washington is not known to have sat for it. It hangs in New York Public Library. An 18th-century acquaintance of Gilbert Stuart gave this earthy description of the artist: "He has the appearance of a man who is attached to drinking, as his face is bloated and red. But he possesses a good deal of humor and related several interesting anecdotes about some of his fel low artists." He added, "As a portrait painter, Stuart is not excelled, I believe, by any man living." These two observations tell us much about the artist who painted our most fa mous portraits of George Washington. Gil bert Stuart was indeed one of the great est American artists, leaving us a rich legacy of likenesses of famous men of the late 18th and early 19th century. Yet Stu art was also a practical man, caught up in the sometimes unpleasant business of mak ing a living, and his high artistic ideals were often contrasted by some of the meth ods he used, including subterfuge. Although he portrayed many of the great men of the early Republic, Stuart's pop ular fame rests to a great extent on his portraits of George Washington, and his relations with our first President paint an adequate portrait of Gilbert Stuart him self the artist and the "businessman." To begin with, Stuart painted more than 100 portraits of Washington. The question is how many of these portraits did our busy first President actually pose-for? Only five, I'm afraid. And for all practical pur poses, three of these are the same picture. Where, then, did all the other portraits come from? Stuart simply made numerous copies. And he sold them readily. It was not unusual for an artist in those days to copy his own work or, for that matter, for another artist to plagiarize it There were no copyright laws nor royal ties on resales. An artist was paid only once, and his only chance for extra profit was to make extra copies. Stuart's methods, however, were sometimes highly "original." The first Washington pose, commonly referred to as the Vaughn type (the origi nal was ordered by a man named Vaughn) , shows the right side of Washington's face 2 Lots of new car miles I An OK Used Car is just the thing for a family with places to go and things to do. Authorized Chevy dealers are now displaying a wide variety of all makes, models and colors at all prices . . . OK Used Cars with thousands of new car miles left in them. Visit your Chevy dealer soon. You'll find him a reputable man who takes pride in the good eft in name he has established in your community. You'll find his OK Used Cars and Trucks are better in these big ways: Carefully inspected. Reconditioned for performance, safety and value. Honesdy described. For the best used car buys, go where you see the OK sign. SEE YOUR I.OCAL AUTHORIZED CHEVROLET DEALER J3p
