Title: George Washington Publication: Brown's Portrait Gallery Date: 1930 RePrint Print Type: Duotone Photo Gravure Size: 12" x 17" folio Condition: Excellent Code: a 1530 Description: George Washington, (granduncle of George Corbin Washington), a Delegate from Virginia and first President of the United States; born at “Wakefield,” near Popes Creek, Westmoreland County, Va., February 22, 1732; raised in Westmoreland County, Fairfax County and King George County; attended local schools and engaged in land surveying; appointed adjutant general of a military district in Virginia with the rank of major in 1752; in November 1753 was sent by Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, to conduct business with the French Army in the Ohio Valley; in 1754 was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and served in the French and Indian war, becoming aide-de-camp to General Braddock in 1755; appointed as commander in chief of Virginia forces in 1755; resigned his commission in December 1758 and returned to the management of his estate at Mount Vernon in 1759; served as a justice of the peace 1760-1774, and as a member of the Virginia house of burgesses 1758-1774; delegate to the Williamsburg convention of August 1774; Member of the First and Second Continental Congresses in 1774 and 1775; unanimously chosen June 15, 1775, as commander in chief of all the forces raised or to be raised; commanded the Continental armies throughout the war for independence; resigned his commission December 23, 1783, and returned to private life at Mount Vernon; was delegate to, and president of, the Federal Convention in Philadelphia in 1787; unanimously elected as the first President of the United States, being inaugurated April 30, 1789, in New York City; unanimously reelected in 1792 and served until March 3, 1797, declining a re-nomination; again appointed as lieutenant general and commander of the United States Army July 3, 1798, and served until his death on December 14, 1799, in Mount Vernon, Va.; internment in the vault at Mount Vernon. Source: Biographical Directory of the United State Congress. This is the only plate in Brown’s Portraits that was not drawn from life. Brown states in his preface that this drawing used as the frontispiece is “an exact copy of an original in his possession.” He received it from a woman whose son was drowned. Brown had done a likeness of her son for her after he drowned and she found it to be such a striking likeness to her son that she presented Brown with the profile of Washington. It was taken by a machine in Alexandria on the General’s visit to that city and was given to her as a young girl by the General’s own hand. It was highly prized by her and not to be parted with but for the great favor Brown had done in bringing to her mind the image of her dead son.
RedHouseCollection watermark is on the digital image only, not on the actual original print.
; "Brown's - George Washington Silhouette")