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A light-skinned man, woman, boy, and girl, and a brown-skinned man sit and stand around a table spread with papers and a map in this horizontal portrait. The light-skinned man sits on a red upholstered chair at the table to our left, and his body faces our right in profile. His legs are crossed, and he rests his right elbow, closer to us, on the back of the chair. He has a sloping, rounded nose, dark eyes, jowls along his jawline, and his closed mouth juts forward. His left arm rests on an open pamphlet on the table next to a sword with a delicate silver hilt. To our left, the young boy stands also looks to our right in profile, next to the older man's chair. The boy wears a dusky rose-pink suit with a white lacy collar. With his right hand, he pulls back a dark green cloth covering a globe on a wooden stand along the left edge of the canvas. The woman sits at the right side of the table, across from the man. She has dark eyes, full cheeks, a double chin, and her pale lips are closed. She wears a voluminous ivory satin gown and petticoat with a black lace shawl, and an ivory cap with a satin bow covers her gray hair. She points to a spot on a map on the table with a closed fan held in her right hand. The young girl, wearing a gauzy white dress with a pine-green sash at the waist, stands on the far side of the table near the woman, holding the curling edges of the map. Behind the women, the brown-skinned man wears a rust-orange and gray uniform, and stands with one hand tucked into his vest in the shadows at the edge of the composition. His features are indistinct but he faces our left in profile. The room has a gold-and-yellow checkerboard floor, and a red cloth drapes from columns frame the scene to each side. It is unclear whether a river view at the back of the room is seen through an open window or door, or if it is a large painting behind the people.

The Washington Family, 1789-1796

Edward Savage

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 62

This group portrait represents George Washington’s military, political, and family life. The president, in a Revolutionary War uniform, rests his hand on a plan for Washington, DC, the site for the new US capital. His wife, first lady Martha Washington, and her grandchildren join him at their Virginia plantation estate, Mount Vernon.

Research now suggests that the figure standing just outside the family group is Christopher Sheels, an enslaved attendant to the president. Unlike the four family members, Sheels is painted in shadow. Old damage to the paint makes it even harder to see his face clearly. Sheels’s presence signals that the president’s household depended on the labor of enslaved people, as did the economy of the young nation.

Dive deeper

Edward Savage's The Washington Family quickly became a veritable icon of our early national pride. In the winter of 1789–1790, President Washington and his wife posed for Savage in New York City, then the nation's capital. Mrs. Washington's grandchildren, taken in by the Washingtons after their father's death, probably also sat for their oil portraits in New York. Savage began to incorporate the separate life studies of their faces into a group portrait engraved on a copper plate. After a stay in England, he resumed the family portrait in Philadelphia—this time, however, in large format as an oil on canvas. The Washington Family was exhibited in 1796.

Savage's catalogue states that Washington's uniform and the papers beneath his hand allude to his "Military Character" and "Presidentship" respectively. With a map before her, Martha Washington is "pointing with her fan to the grand avenue," now known as Pennsylvania Avenue. An enslaved man dressed in livery and a supposed vista down the Potomac complete the imaginary scene.

Savage's self–taught ability to distinguish between satins, gauzes, and laces is nothing short of astonishing. However, the anatomy alternates between wooden and rubbery, and the family strangely avoids eye contact. Despite Savage's lack of experience, his huge Washington Family remains one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by a federal artist.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century, pages 146-158, which is available as a free PDF.

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Object Data

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 213.6 x 284.2 cm (84 1/8 x 111 7/8 in.)

framed: 247.7 x 316.2 x 15.2 cm (97 1/2 x 124 1/2 x 6 in.)

Credit Line

Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Accession Number

1940.1.2

Artists / Makers

Edward Savage (painter) American, 1761 - 1817

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Detail Information

Provenance

The artist;[1] purchased from his estate, 14 November 1820, by Ethan Allen Greenwood [1779-1856], Boston;[2] sold 1839 to Moses Kimball [1809-1895], Boston, with the contents of the New England Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts;[3] sold December 1891 to (Samuel P. Avery, Jr., New York);[4] sold 1892 to William Frederick Havemeyer [1850-1913], New York.[5] National Democratic Club, New York;[6] sold 15 December 1922 to (Art House, Inc., New York);[7] Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York; his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1940 to NGA.

[1] Ethan Allen Greenwood, John R. Penniman, and William M.S. Doyle, "Inventory of the estate of Edward Savage, late of Princeton in the County of Worcester deceased, lying and being in Boston in the County of Suffolk," 12 September 1817, no. 51 (with his paintings of Christopher Columbus and Liberty). This inventory of the contents of Savage's museum in Boston is filed with the inventory of his property in Princeton and his administrator's accounts at the Worcester County Probate Court, Worcester, Massachusetts (photocopy, NGA curatorial file, photocopy courtesy of Georgia Barnhill, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Graphic Arts, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester), series A, case 52130; see Louisa Dresser, "Edward Savage, 1761-1817," Art in America 40, no. 4 (Autumn 1952), 157-158, n. 5, and Georgia Brady Barnhill, "'Extracts from the Journals of Ethan A. Greenwood': Portrait Painter and Museum Proprietor," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 103, part 1 (October 1993), 97.

[2] Bill of sale signed by Savage's son Edward Savage, Jr. (1795-1858), Boston, administrator of his father's estate; Ethan Allen Greenwood Papers, American Antiquarian Society (photocopy, NGA curatorial file, courtesy of Georgia Barnhill). The price of $1,000 was for "One Marble Statue of the Venus de Medicis and the large Painting of the Washington Family." On Greenwood see Barnhill 1993, 91-178.

[3] Watkins 1917, 127-128; according to Ryan 1915, 1-2, Moses Kimball (1809-1895) bought a large part of the collection of the New England museum when he was "about thirty" and opened the new Boston Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts in 1841. A draft of a document written by Greenwood in 1839, which would have transferred ownership of the museum to Robert Gould Shaw and the Reverend Edward T. Taylor, is in the Ethan Allen Greenwood Papers, American Antiquarian Society, quoted in Barnhill 1993, 101. This transfer did not take place.

[4] Letter from Moses Kimball to Samuel P. Avery, Jr., 28 December 1891, confirming the sale, in Savage's Painting of Washington and Family (album, NGA library). Kimball said that the painting, which he owned for more than fifty years, came to him "in the collection of the New England Museum that I purchased." Also in the album is a letter of 23 November 1892 from Charles H. Savage, the artist's grandson, to Avery, giving the history of the painting.

[5] "An Old Portrait of the Washington Family," New York Sun, 31 December 1892 (in Savage's Painting of Washington and Family, album, NGA library) recounted the painting's history. "From this dismal seclusion [in the Boston Museum] the old painting was recovered by Mr. Samuel P. Avery, Jr., about a year ago, and after a good scrubbing with soap and water and solvent it was brought to this city. Mr. William F. Havemeyer has recently bought it to add to his extensive Museum of Washingtoniana." Havemeyer owned the painting by 3 January 1893, when collector Thomas B. Clarke wrote to Charles Henry Hart asking whether it would be an appropriate loan for the exhibition of retrospective art they were planning for the World's Columbian Exposition; they were on the advisory committee (New York Public Library, Papers of the Columbian Exposition, Archives of American Art, Washington, D.C.); ultimately the painting was not included in the 1893 exhibition. Havemeyer's dates are in Who Was Who in America, Historical volume, 1942, 1:535.

[6] Charles Henry Hart, Edward Savage, Painter and Engraver, and his Unfinished Copper-plate of "The Congress Voting Independence", Boston, 1905, 10.

[7] The name of the seller and the date of purchase are recorded in a copy of Portraits by Early American Painters of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Collected by Thomas B. Clarke, Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928, annotated with information from files of M. Knoedler & Co., NY (copy in NGA curatorial records and in NGA library). The receipt for payment by Art House, Inc., dated 15 December 1922, is signed on behalf of the National Democratic Club by F. Newlin Price (NGA curatorial file).

Associated Names

Art House, Inc.
Avery, Samuel Putnam, Jr.
Clarke, Thomas Benedict
Greenwood, Ethan Allen
Havemeyer, William Frederick
Kimball, Moses
Knoedler & Company, M.
Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, The A.W.
National Democratic Club

Exhibition History

1796: Columbian Gallery, New York, 1796-1800.

1801: Columbian Gallery, New York, 1801-1802, no. 48 [probably exhibited until 1810].

1810: Columbian Museum, Boston, 1810-1823.

1826: New-England Museum, Boston, c. 1826, no. 1.

1838: New-England Museum, Boston [probably exhibited through 1838/1840].

1841: Boston Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts, 1841-1891.

1892: Exhibition of the Important Oil Painting [of] Washington and His Family by Edwin [sic] Savage, of Princeton, Mass. Born 1761. Died 1817., Avery Galleries, New York, 1892.

1924: Exhibition of Portraits by Early American Portrait Painters, The Union League Club, New York, February 1924, no. 1.

1924: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1924-1925.

1928: Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928-1931, unnumbered and unpaginated catalogue.

1929: Virginia Historical Portraiture, Virginia House, Richmond, 1929.

1932: George Washington Bicentennial Historical Loan Exhibition of Portraits of George Washington and his Associates, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1932, no. 17.

1939: Life in America [A Special Loan Exhibition of Paintings Held During the Period of the New York World's Fair], The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1939, no. 39, repro.

1950: Makers of History in Washington 1800-1950 [An Exhibition Celebrating the Sesquicentennial of the Establishment of the Federal Government in Washington], National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1950, unnumbered, repro.

1985: The Washington Family by Edward Savage: An Inaugural Celebration, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1985, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1999: George and Martha Washington: Portraits from the Presidential Years, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1999, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1796: Gazette of the United States. Philadelphia, 20 February, 1796.

1801: Mercantile Advertiser. New York, 19 November, 1801: 2.

1802: An Admirer of the Polite Arts. "Review of Exhibition of Paintings." New York Morning Chronicle, 18 November, 1802: 3.

1802: Columbian Gallery. At the Pantheon, No. 80, Greenwich-Street, near the Battery. New York, 1802: 3-4, no. 48.

1802: Commercial Advertiser. New York, 14 June, 1802: 4.

1802: Mercantile Advertiser. New York, 20 April, 1802: 2.

1841: Catalogue of the Paintings, Marble and Plaster Statuary and Engravings comprised in the Collection of the Boston Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts. Boston, 1841: 3, no. 6.

1842: Catalogue of the Paintings, Marble and Plaster Statuary and Engravings comprised in the Collection of the Boston Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts. Boston, 1842: 3, no. 6.

1844: Catalogue of the Paintings, Marble and Plaster Statuary and Engravings, comprised in the Collection of the Boston Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts. Boston, 1844: 3, no. 6.

1847: Catalogue of the Paintings, Portraits, Marble and Plaster Statuary, Engravings & Water Color Drawings, in the Collection of the Boston Museum. Boston, 1847: 14, no. 184.

1858: Peale, Rembrandt. "Washington and his Portraits." Unpublished lecture. Charles Roberts Autograph Letters College, Haverford College, Pennsylvania (Lillian B. Miller, ed., Peale Family Papers, microfiche ed., fiche VIB/19-20), 1858: 15.

1869: Dunlap, William. A History of the Rise and Progress of The Arts of Design in the United States. 2 vols. Reprinted in 3. New York, 1969 (1834): 1:321.

1882: Johnston, Elizabeth Bryant. Original Portraits of Washington, including Statues, Monuments, and Medals. Boston, 1882: 46-47, engraving repro. opp. 46.

1892: Exhibition of the Important Oil Painting Washington and His Family by Edwin [sic] Savage, of Princeton, Mass. Exh. cat. Avery Galleries, New York, 1892.

1893: Savage's Painting of Washington and Family. Album of letters and newspaper clippings. Library, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., c. 1893.

1897: Hart, Charles Henry. "Life Portraits of George Washington." McClure's Magazine 8, no. 4 (February 1897): 299.

1905: Hart, Charles Henry. Edward Savage, Painter and Engraver, and his Unfinished Copper-plate of "The Congress Voting Independence". Boston, 1905: 8-11.

1924: Fielding, Mantle. "Edward Savage's Portraits of Washington." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 48 (1924): 197-200, engraving opp. 193.

1928: Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke. Exh. cat. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928, unnumbered.

1931: Morgan, John Hill, and Mantle Fielding. The Life Portraits of Washington and Their Replicas. Philadelphia, 1931: 178-179, 183-186, no. 8, repro.

1932: Eisen, Gustavus A. Portraits of Washington. 3 vols. New York, 1932: 2:457-458, 461-465, plates 99 and 153 (detail).

1941: Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 179-180, no. 488.

1942: Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 249, repro. 8.

1946: Favorite Paintings from the National Gallery of Art Washington, D.C.. New York, 1946: 61-64, color repro.

1949: Dickson, Harold E. John Wesley Jarvis, American Painter; 1780-1840. New York, 1949: 38, 45-50, 54.

1949: Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 129, repro.

1951: King, Marian. Portfolio Number 3. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: no. 10, color repro.

1952: Dresser, Louisa. "Edward Savage, 1761-1817." Art in America 40, no. 4 (Autumn 1952): 199-204, no. 25, repro.

1956: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1956: 50, repro.

1959: Bouton, Margaret. American Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1959 (Booklet Number One in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 18, color repro.

1959: Gottesman, Rita Susswein. "New York's First Major Art Show." New-York Historical Society Quarterly 43 (July 1959): 300, repro. 301, 304-305, no. 48.

1962: Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 132, color repro.

1966: Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:388, color repro.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 98, repro.

1973: Dickson, Harold E. "Artists as Showmen." American Art Journal 5, no. 1 (May 1973): 4, 7-8, fig. 3.

1973: Kaplan, Sidney. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution, 1770-1800. Exh. cat. National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1973: 33.

1975: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 386, repro. 387.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 220, repro.

1980: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1980: 9.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: color repro. 54-55, 67, 72.

1982: Wick, Wendy C. George Washington, An American Icon: The Eighteenth-Century Graphic Portraits. Washington, 1982: 43, 122-124.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 383, no. 539, color repro.

1988: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: frontispiece, 9.

1989: Honour, Hugh. The Image of the Black in Western Art. 4, part 1: Slaves and Liberators. Cambridge, Mass. 1989: 46-48, repro. fig. 13, 311.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 333, repro.

1992: National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1992: 221, repro.

1993: Barnhill, Georgia Brady. "'Extracts from the Journals of Ethan A. Greenwood': Portrait Painter and Museum Proprietor." Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 103, part 1 (October 1993): 91-178.

1995: Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 146-158, color repro. 147.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 291, no. 236, color repro.

2013: Kusserow, Karl. "Memory, Metaphor, and Meaning in Atlantic Cable Projectors." In Picturing Power: Portraiture and Its Uses in the New York Chamber of Commerce. New York, 2013: 332, color fig. 175.

2014: Knutson, Lawrence L. Away from the White House: Presidential Escapes, Retreats, and Vacations. Washington, 2014: 8, color repro.

2018: Barrett, Ross. "In Conversation: Art is Not the Archive." Archives of American Art Journal 52, no. 2 (Fall 2018): 75, color fig. 7.

2022: Van Hor, Jennifer. Portraits of Resistance: Activating Art During Slavery. New Haven, 2022: 72-121, fig. 33.