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George Washington and Family

George Washington and Family
Artist:  Thomas Prichard Rossiter
Oil on canvas
1858-1860
George Washington and Family
George Washington and Family
Artist:  Thomas Prichard Rossiter
Oil on canvas
1858-1860
George Washington and Family Artist: Thomas Prichard Rossiter Oil on canvas 1858-1860
Status
On view
Label Text

Here, then, is Thomas Prichard Rossiter’s conception of a private George Washington, finally at ease in his beloved Mount Vernon home. The artist painted this intimate, domestic scene of Washington and his family after visiting Mount Vernon in 1858. He has imagined Washington, Martha and her two granddaughters, Nelly and Eliza Custis, together with an enslaved servant, as they might have passed a quiet afternoon in Washington’s study. The women look up from their pursuits (sewing and writing) to focus on Washington, who has paused from reading the book in his left hand and seems on the verge of conversation. A diagonal light enters the room from an unseen window behind Washington and illuminates the faces and hands of all four sitters, thereby drawing attention to their industry and intelligence. Rossiter was keen on historical accuracy, and he used his first-hand observations during his visit to reproduce the glass-fronted bookcases on the far right, as well as the decorative woodwork (paneled door, mantle, wainscoting, molding and cornice), and to give viewers a faithful impression of the room. Moreover, he carefully integrated Washington relics throughout the room—the framed prints, ceramic vases, lamps, sculptural portraits, silver cups, chairs, and candlesticks—which he found illustrated in Benson J. Lossing’s popular book, Mount Vernon and its Associations (1859).

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Date1858-1860
Artist (American, 1818 - 1871)
Subject (American, 1732 - 1799)
Subject (American, 1731 - 1802)
Subject (American, 1779 - 1852)
Subject (American, 1781 - 1857)
Geography Made - United States
Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall (H x W x D Framed): 24 5/8 in. × 35 3/4 in. × 4 5/8 in. (62.55 cm × 90.81 cm × 11.75 cm) Overall (H x W Sight): 15 in. × 25 7/8 in. (38.1 cm × 65.72 cm)
Credit LineGift of Nanine Hilliard Greene, 2000 Conservation courtesy of The Founders, Washington Committee Endowment Fund
Object numberH-4173
DescriptionOil on canvas history painting of George and Martha Washington sitting with Martha’s granddaughters in the study at Mount Vernon. The family gathers around a table draped in a red cloth in the middle foreground, while an enslaved female worker carrying a tray laden with a pitcher and glass passes in the background. Washington sits to the right of the table and appears contemplative and perhaps in mid-conversation. He holds open a book with the forefinger of his left hand and makes a gesture with his right hand, while Martha and Elizabeth (“Eliza”) Custis, seated to the left and behind the table, look up from their activities to listen. Eleanor (“Nelly”) Custis sits to the far left of the composition and appears to be sewing. On the table in front of Washington sits a writing desk, a single sheaf of paper, candlestick, inkstand and quill, while sewing implements rest in front of Martha. Nelly holds a quill in her hand as she pauses in the act of writing on a sheaf of paper. A strong light streaming in from an unseen window behind Washington simultaneously illuminates the faces and hands of Washington and his family. The composition is framed with architectural and decorative elements that indicate the space is Washington’s study. For instance, the wall of glass-fronted shelves filled with Washington’s books dominate the far right, and the top of the mantle is decorated with a garniture of Chinese-export vases and a sculptural bust of Jacques Necker.

Frame: A typical 1850s American cove profile frame of gilt wood and gesso. The outer edge is a half round with composition ornament crossed straps, and the cove is sand textured in a rock pattern with applied composition ornament leaves in the corners. A silver gilt fillet with gamboge finish separates the cove from a flat, two-step liner with beaded inner edge. The outer step of the liner features a composition ornament decoration of triangles and berries, which repeats on the outer edge of the backband. The backband has a double coved profile.

Published ReferencesBruce Weber. Every Kind of a Painter: The Art of Thomas Prichard Rossiter (1818-1871). Garrison, NY: Boscobel House and Gardens, 2015. “George Washington and His Family,” cited pp. 19, illustrated pp. 40.

Dennis J. Pogue. “Drink and Be Merry: Liquor and Wine at Mount Vernon.” In Stephen A. McLeod, ed. Dining with the Washingtons: Historic Recipes, Entertaining, and Hospitality from Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, distributed by the University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2011. “Palmy Days at Mount Vernon,” illustrated, pp. 96.

Maurie D. McInnis. “The Most Famous Plantation of All: The Politics of Painting Mount Vernon.” In Angela D. Mack and Stephen G. Hoffius, ed., Landscape of Slavery: The Plantation in American Art, pp. 86-114. Columbia, SC: The University of South Carolina Press, 2008.

Carol E. Borchert. “A Private Citizen on the Potomac: Thomas Rossiter’s George Washington and Family.” The Annual Report of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association of the Union (2000): 28-34. Illustrated pp. 29.

Charles Colbert. A Measure of Perfection: Phrenology and the Fine Arts in America. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1997. “The Library at Mount Vernon [George Washington and his Family]” and “Palmy Days of Mount Vernon,” cited pp. 404, fn. 106.

Natalie Spassky, et. al. American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Volume II. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in association with Princeton University Press, 1980. “Washington in his Library” and “Palmy Days at Mount Vernon,” cited pp. 88.

Margaret Broaddus. “Thomas P. Rossiter: In Pursuit of Diversity.” American Art and Antiques 2 (May/June 1979): 106-113.

Mark Edward Thistlethwaite. “The Image of George Washington: Studies in Mid-Nineteenth-Century American History Painting.” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1977. “George Washington and His Family” and “Palmy Days of Mount Vernon,” cited pp. 137–39.

Ilene Susan Fort. “High Art and the American Experience: The Career of Thomas Prichard Rossiter.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Queens College of the City University of New York, 1975. “George Washington and His Family” and “Palmy Days of Mount Vernon,” cited in Chapter VI.

William H. Gerdts. Revealed Masters: 19th Century American Art. New York: The Federation of Arts, 1974.

The Catalogue of American Portraits in the New-York Historical Society, Vol. II. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1974.

William Young, ed. A Dictionary of American Artists, Sculptors and Engravers. Cambridge, MA: William Young and Co., 1968.

Edith Rossiter Bevan. “Thomas Prichard Rossiter, 1818-1871,” a biography by his granddaughter, Typescript, D33, Arch. Am. Art, 1957. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution [available online, accessed June 14, 2018: https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/thomas-prichard-rossiter-and-rossiter-family-papers-8395/series-1/box-1-folder-6].

Edith Rossiter Bevan. “Thomas Prichard Rossiter, 1818-1871: Checklist of Paintings,” a list compiled by his granddaughter, 1957. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution [available online, accessed June 14, 2018: https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/thomas-prichard-rossiter-and-rossiter-family-papers-8395/series-1/box-1-folder-7].

Henry T. Tuckerman. Book of the Artists. New York: G. Putnam & Sons, 1867.

Benson J. Lossing. George Washington’s Mount Vernon or Mount Vernon and its Associations, Historical Biographical, and Pictorial. New York: The Fairfax Press (1859, 1870), 1977.

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