“Porthole” Portrait by Rembrandt Peale

An upstart seventeen-year-old Rembrandt Peale first painted George Washington in 1795. Almost thirty years later, the artist reworked his life portrait into what he called his "Standard National Likeness," or George Washington, Patriae Pater, which depicted Washington in a stonework oval or "porthole." Peale vigorously promoted this image over the next three decades, executing at least 75 replicas and several prints of it. By popularizing his "perfect representation" of our nation's moral and political hero to icon status, Peale - an advocate of physiognomy or the idea external appearances revealed one's true character - believed succeeding generations of Americans would be enlightened by and elevated to Washington's great nobleness.

Bequest of Luisita L. Cofer, 1956 [H-2062]