(American, 1761-1817)

The Washington Family: George Washington, His Lady, and her Two Grandchildren by the Name of Custis–George Washington, Son Epouse, et Ses Deux petits Enfants du Nom de Custis, Edward Savage, artist, engraver, and published with Robert Wilkinson (British, active 1758–1825), Philadelphia and London, 1798, stipple engraving, image 18-3/8 x 24-9/16 in.; fine gilt wood frame with eglomise mat, 30-1/8 x 35-1/8 x 2 in. 

Note: The first engraving of this famous painting, described by Morgan as "one of the most important of the Washington portraits." Depicts Washington with Mrs. Washington, her two grandchildren, and his longtime valet William Lee, an enslaved man who would be freed upon Washington's death the following year. Washington has his hand on a map of the capital city which bore his name. Based on a portrait of Washington which Savage painted from life in 1789; Savage and several assistants worked on the plate intermittently for eight years before its publication. Four copies were delivered to Washington. Hart 235; Stauffer 2754.

Literature: William Spohn Baker The engraved portraits of Washington, with notices of the originals and brief biographical sketches of the painters. 1880, cat. no. 120, p. 77.

Charles Henry Hart Catalogue of the Engraved Portraits of Washington. The Grolier Club, 1904, cat. no. 235, p. 110.

David McNeeley Stauffer, Mantle Fielding, Thomas Hovey Gage American Engravers upon Copper and Steel. 1907 (reprinted 1994), cat. no. 2754.

Wendy C. Wick, Lillian B. Miller George Washington, An American Icon: The Eigtheenth-Century Graphic Portraits Ex. cat. Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Barra Foundation, 1982, cat. no. 55, pp. 122-124, ill.

E. McSherry Fowble, Winterthur Museum & Country Estate Two Centuries of Prints in America, 1680-1880: A selective catalogue of the Winterthur Museum Collection. The University Press of Virginia, 1987, cat. no. 202.