George Washington (John Trumbull, 1790)


George Washington is a large full-length oil painted by American artist John Trumbull in 1790.
Trumbull's earlier 1790 work, Washington at Verplanck's Point, which he had gifted to Washington's wife Martha, had been very well received. In consequence, Trumbull received a July, 1790, commission from the corporation for the City of New York, led by Mayor Richard Varick, to paint the president's portrait.
Rather than beginning anew, Trumbull enormously scaled up the prior work, enlarging it from roughly 30" by 20" to nearly four times the size, 108" by 72". In composition and general character the two paintings are substantially the same, with only the middle background as seen through Washington's horse's legs changed, from a September 14, 1782 review of Continental Army troops he had staged for departing French commander-in-chief General Rochambeau to an idealized vision of Evacuation Day, Washington's return to New York City upon the British departure on November 25, 1783.
This painting is located in the historic Governor's Room of New York City Hall.

Background

Trumbull in a letter to his mentor, the painter Benjamin West, on August 30, 1790 wrote:

Composition

The pose and general composition are virtual of copies of Washington at Verplanck's Point painted earlier in 1790, but instead of the background seen through the horse's legs being a romanticized depiction of a review of Continental Army troops at their encampment at New York's Verplanck's Point Washington had staged for departing French commander-in-chief General Rochambeau on September 14, 1782, it is an idealized vision of Evacuation Day, Washington's return to New York City upon the British departure on November 25, 1783. It was put on display in the Governor's Room of New York City Hall, where it remains.

Engraving

In 1899, Samuel Arlent Edwards engraved a version entitled Washington and noted as "From the painting by J. Trumbull in the City Hall, New York".