Images

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=05E6864175583AA90AA5CE0FFE959A9DA050520FC3964EBB00312B0C25B325F3&s=24247294&se=307119930&v=3&f=1917.946_o2.jpg

Additional Views

Mar 13, 2007

George Washington at Princeton

c. 1779

Charles Willson Peale

(American, 1741–1827)

and Workshop

America, 18th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 153 x 144 x 7 cm (60 1/4 x 56 11/16 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 131 x 121.6 cm (51 9/16 x 47 7/8 in.)

Membership Income Fund 1917.946

Location

204 Colonial American

Did you know?

Artist and scientist Peale directed the first dig of a mastodon skeleton in the US.

Description

Because Peale served under General Washington and befriended him during the Revolutionary War, he was an ideal candidate to commemorate Washington's important early victory at Princeton, NJ. Here, in the quiet aftermath of battle, the general is accompanied by his horse and a groomsman, identified by some scholars as William Lee, a mixed-race enslaved man Washington forced to work as his personal assistant. Also present is a line of captured British redcoat soldiers that animates the background at left.

Peale produced several versions of this composition amid a rally of enthusiasm for the American cause. Whereas some were commissioned by American colonists—as in the case here—others were ordered by Washington's admirers in France, Spain, Holland, Cuba, and even England.

Video

Provenance

Probably until 1847

Colonel Frisby Tilghman [1773-1847], Talbot County, Maryland, by descent to his son-in-law, Thomas Jefferson McKaig1 ¹

Probably 1847-probably 1882

General Thomas Jefferson McKaig [1804-1882], Cumberland, Maryland, by descent to his son, Dr. Frisby Tilghman McKaig

Probably 1882-1915

Dr. Frisby Tilghman McKaig [1859-1921], Andrews, North Carolina, consigned to Jonce I. McGurk through Macbeth Gallery

1915-1917

(Jonce I. McGurk through Macbeth Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1 ²

1917-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

Provenance Footnotes

¹The information provided by Macbeth Gallery mentions Tilghman’s “home in Rockland [MD] where the portrait hung for many years, never going out of the family until its recent sale to Macbeth Gallery.” The painting’s ownership prior to Tilghman is uncertain. In his Portraits and Miniatures by Charles Willson Peale (1952), Charles Coleman Sellers suggests that because the painting had been owned by Frisby Tilghman, it was probably painted for his father, Judge James Tilghman (1743-1809), who was well acquainted with the artist. This is purely conjecture, however, as there is no documentation confirming James Tilghman’s ownership of the painting.

²1McKaig authorized McGurk to sell the painting on his behalf upon agreement of a price.

Citations

Scharf, J. Thomas. History of Western Maryland: Being a History of Frederick, Montgomery, Carroll, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties from the Earliest Period to the Present Day ; Including Biographical Sketches of Their Representative Men. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts, 1882.

Stock Disposition Cards, Sold Paintings, Macbeth Gallery records, 1838-1968, bulk, 1892-1953, Archives of American Art, Washington, DC.

Photographs of Artwork and Records of Paintings Sold, Box 156, Macbeth Gallery records, 1838-1968, bulk, 1892-1953, Archives of American Art, Washington, DC.

DePrizio, Jennifer. "Finding Connections: Comparison as an interpretive learning tool.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 62, no. 1: 16-17. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 16.

"Special Exhibition Cabinet." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 5, no. 1 (1918). Reproduced: p. 2; Mentioned: p. 3 www.jstor.org

"Washington at the Battle of Princeton by Charles Wilson Peale." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 5, no. 2/3 (1918): 19-20. Reproduced: Front Matter; Mentioned: p. 19-20 www.jstor.org

"Report of the Museum's Second Year." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 5, no. 6/7 (1918): 69-79. Mentioned: pp. 70, 71 www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned: cat. no. 527 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 199 archive.org

Adams, Henry. What's American about American art?: a gallery tour in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008. Reproduced: p. 44 - 45

Exhibition history

Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of The Cleveland Museum of Art; The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition (26 June-4 October 1936), cat. no. 38.

Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Art: The International Language (2 October-4 November 1956)

Greensburg, PA, The Westmoreland County Museum of Art, Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Art in Pennsylvania (1959), cat. no. 87, illus. plate 8.

Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, The Peale Family: Three Generations of American Artists (18 January-5 March 1967); traveled to Utica, NY, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute (19 March-30 April 1967), cat. no. 52, illus. p. 13, listed p. 66-67.

Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Heritage and Horizon: American Painting, 1776-1976 (6 March-11 April 1976); traveled to Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts (5 May-13 June 1976); Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art (4 July-15 August 1976); Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art (8 September-10 October 1976), illus. cat. no. 1.

Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum (6 June-8 September 1991)

The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936).

35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951).

Art: The International Language. The Cleveland Museum of Art (October 2-November 4, 1956).

Heritage and Horizon: American Painting 1776 - 1976. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (organizer) (March 7-April 11, 1976); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (May 2-June 13, 1976); The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH (July 4-August 15, 1976); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 8-October 10, 1976).

Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).

Currents and Constellations: Black Art in Focus. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 20-June 26, 2022).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=George Washington at Princeton|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1917.946|author=Charles Willson Peale|year=c. 1779|access-date=21 September 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.

You are here:

Images

George Washington at Princeton

George Washington at Princeton

Charles Willson Peale

and Workshop

Location

Download and Share

Did you know?

Description

Video

Provenance Footnotes

Contact us