Art George Washington

The reason is because it is a portrait of a person it cannot have parts hat correspondent to one another; they are not equal. When I mean not equal, I mean if you fold the painting in half the painting is not alike both sides are different. The portrait has symbolic meaning behind it because he was our first president and in the portrait he is surrounded with objects of his public life during the service of his country. Now analyzing the painting more thoroughly, one can notice his clothing attire was suitable for his position in power, since he was the president of the United States of America.The suit symbolizes a switch toa public fgure from general to president. The sheathed sword is ceremonial; it distinguished him as a â€Å"fine gentlemen† and is symbolic in a sense because it distinguished him as being head of state. i The subject matter of this portrait is George Washington, who is posing as the first president. The reason I was drawn to him is because he is our first President and I wanted to do a piece on a famous person that everyone in the United States knows.I believe that the artwork is placed perfectly; after all, it is in the American wing of the useum alongside other political paintings. This is the first painting of George Washington however; the original Lansdowne is not in the museum. The original one was done in 1796. The name of the portrait comes from William Petty, the first Maqguis of Lansdowne who was a British supporter of American independence. Gilbert Stuart painted numerous copies of this famous piece, one of which was made for Ms. William Bingham of Pennsylvania and another is the one displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The portrait shows the movement of the ratification of he Jay Treaty and the transatlantic political alliance brought together during George Washington's second term. ‘ Similar material painted around this time in 1817 was John Trumbull's oil canvas â€Å"Declaration of Independence,† located in the United States Capitol Rotunda. ii Gilbert Stuart was a renowned artist who was known for capturing the inner character, which he believed was reflected in their physical features. He believed Washington features indicated a man with great passion. ‘ The George Washington portrait brought Gilbert Stuart fame.This period in time a person like George Washington would give the artist more sitters. iii In addition, reproducing this portrait gave Stuart more money, either painting it wit n his own two hands or having engravers paint it, which he held the copyright to as well. This portrait is a key turning point for Gilbert Stuart that made him a successful artist. â€Å"He is surrounded with allegorical emblems of his public life in the service of his country, which are highly illustrative of the great and tremendous storms which have requently prevailed. v These storms have abated, and the appearance of the rainbow is introduced in the background as a sign. † †Advertisement for the first exhibition of the Lansdowne portrait in 1798 â€Å"Lansdowne Portrait retains a place of special significance within the history of American art. â€Å"- Dr. Bryan Zygmont. v As you can see from the historians/critics they concur that the artwork is a famous portrait in history. The artwork is a contention of being the best artwork in American History.