Founding Fathers Remembered
Presidents' Day, originally established to observe the birth dates of Abraham Lincoln (February 12) and George Washington (February 22), now honors all former presidents of the United States.
Founding Fathers Remembered Presidents' Day, originally established to observe the birth dates of Abraham Lincoln (February 12) and George Washington (February 22), now honors all former presidents of the United States.
Artist Edward Dalton Marchant created this handsome profile of founding father George Washington around 1843 at the request of our nation's sixth president, John Quincy Adams. Marchant copied a pastel drawing of Washington made by James Sharples (1751-1811), done when Washington was in office and John Quincy Adams' father, John Adams, was Vice President.
The portly and stubborn second president of the United States, John Adams, who was revered as a founding father yet reviled by his many political opponents, is depicted by Gilbert Stuart in this canvas as a wizened old man. But rather than surrender to old age or sink unnoticed into the comfortable red upholstery of his grand sofa, he holds his head erect and gazes fixedly with rheumy but determined eyes. Always aware of the legacy he would leave to future generations, Adams, in this his final portrait, seems intent on making a lasting impression. His tight lips, set chin, bright eyes, and wild wisps of hair, which create a shaggy halo around his illuminated bald patch, suggest that he is watching our progress as a nation to make sure we live up to the mandate of the generation of 1776.
Pictured top: Edward Dalton Marchant (1806–1887), George Washington,1843–1844, oil, 9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Adams-Clement Collection, gift of Mary Louisa Adams Clement in memory of her mother, Louisa Catherine Adams Clement.
Source: Text for Adams portrait by Amy Pastan. Young America: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (New York and Washington, D.C.: Watson-Guptill Publications, in cooperation with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2000).
Pictured bottom: Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828), John Adams ,1826, oil , 30 x 25 1/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Adams-Clement Collection, gift of Mary Louisa Adams Clement in memory of her mother, Louisa Catherine Adams Clement.