  About the Artwork
  
  
  Thanks to Charles Willson Peale we know what George Washington looked like.  Between 1772 and 1795, Washington sat for Peale seven times. This miniature derives from a 1779 sitting in Philadelphia, after the State of Pennsylvania commissioned Peale to paint a full-length portrait of Washington as the heroic head of the Continental Army who had led his troops to crucial victories at Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey. Peale called the painting Washington at the Battle of Princeton. The subject proved very popular, so Peale was commissioned to paint several full-length replicas as well as a few miniatures. 

It is thought that George Washington commissioned this miniature as a present for his younger sister Betty Washington Lewis. As in the first of the full-length versions, now at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Washington wears the blue uniform with buff facings of the general staff. The blue sash indicates his position as Commander-in-Chief.
  
  
  Title
  Portrait of George Washington
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1779
  
  Artist
  Charles Willson Peale
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1741-1827
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  American
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Watercolor on ivory
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 2 × 1 5/8 × 1/8 inches (5.1 × 4.1 × 0.3 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  American Art before 1950
  
  
  Credit
  Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley P. Sax
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  1996.256
  
  
  Copyright
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