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George Washington

ca. 1790
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 774
Polk used his uncle Charles Willson Peale's so-called Convention portrait as the basis for this image; Peale painted the original portrait from life at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. Polk portrayed Washington numerous times from various sources but never from life. In 1790 Polk wrote to Washington requesting a sitting and stating that he had executed fifty portraits of him during the previous year.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: George Washington
  • Artist: Charles Peale Polk (1767–1822)
  • Date: ca. 1790
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 21 3/4 x 17 7/8 in. (55.2 x 45.4 cm)
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Charles Allen Munn, 1924
  • Object Number: 24.109.81
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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