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In 1802, he reportedly said, “I did not paint it, but I bargained for it.” His vague comment is open to interpretation: Some historians believe he was embarrassed by the quality of that particular copy and wasn’t too keen to claim it as his own. Stuart himself didn’t do much to help clear up the matter. “The painting is not by Gilbert Stuart,” former National Portrait Gallery director Marvin Sadik told ARTnews in 1975. Some experts say the painting saved by Jennings on that chaotic night back in 1814 was one of these knock-offs. It’s believed that Stuart painted another three copies of this original work, and other artists painted more versions still to be hung in government offices across the country. The original portrait of Washington-known as the Lansdowne portrait, because it was a gift for the Marquis of Lansdowne-was privately owned for decades. The 2013 winner was Bo Gehring, whose close-up video and sound portrait of jazz musician Esperanza Spalding draws delight and praise from visitors.All of that risk, all of that effort-and it turns out that the work was a mere copy. In 2006, the Portrait Gallery hosted the first Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, now a prestigious triennial event, which also brings commissioned works into the collection. In the late 1990s, the Portrait Gallery began commissioning portraits of presidents, beginning with George H. Over the years the collections, which were initially restricted to paintings, prints, drawings, and engravings, have grown to over 23,000 items in all media, from daguerreotypes to digital. "America's Presidents" continues to acquire portraits-including paintings, sculpture, photographs, caricatures, video, and time-based media-of each succeeding president. Reynolds Foundation allowed the "Lansdowne" painting to be purchased as a gift to the nation. In 2000, the Portrait Gallery was in danger of losing this painting-which had been on loan since the museum's opening in 1968-when its owner decided to sell it. Gilbert Stuart's "Lansdowne" painting of George Washington is the grand introductory image to this exhibition. Through the visual arts, performing arts, and new media, the Portrait Gallery presents poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists whose lives form our national identity.Īs the nation's only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House, the "America's Presidents" exhibition lies at the heart of the Portrait Gallery's mission to tell the country's history through the individuals who have shaped it.
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Today, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery continues to narrate the multi-faceted and ever-changing story of America through the individuals who have shaped its culture. The National Portrait Gallery was authorized and founded by Congress in 1962 with the mission to acquire and display portraits of individuals who have made significant contributions to the history, development, and culture of the people of the United States.