(American, active late 18th century)

John Manly engraver, after Joseph Wright, circa 1789-1793, "G. Washington/Born Virginia Febry. 11th, 1732/General of the American Armies 1775./Resign'd 1783./President of the United States1789" (No. 1556) the original copper plate after re-working, image 3-5/8 dia., plate 4-3/4 x 3-7/8 in., verso with multiple "sketches" including flowers, bugs, a dog, a cup, monograms, an oval featuring an angel with a scroll with the inscription from Genesis 3:19, "Dust thou art unto dust thou must return", also inscriptions "Large Copper plate" "Flowers", "A New Encyclopedia",

Provenance: Ex-Collection William Spohn Baker; to his son-in-law and executor Henry Whelen, Jr. (1848-1907), Philadelphia banker and collector; his daughter Marie Elsie Whelen Clews (1880-1959); her son Mancha Madison Clews (1915–2006); By descent in family

Note: Henry Whelen, Jr., William Spohn Baker’s son-in-law, executor, and fellow collector, was a prominent figure in Philadelphia’s cultural life. He served as President of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and as Treasurer and Director of several leading institutions, including the Philadelphia Orchestra. A noted collector, Whelen was described as the owner of “the finest collection of engravings and Washington prints in existence.”

William Spohn Baker devoted himself to collecting and research after retiring from business. His Medallic Portraits of Washington (1885) documented his important collection of Washington medals, assembled when American numismatics was still in its formative years. As many of the earliest Washington medals were only decades old, Baker was likely among the first generations of collectors to acquire them. A letter from Whelen, traditionally dated 1877 but possibly 1897, shortly after Baker’s death, further underscores the close personal and collecting relationship between the two men.

Among the earliest American-made Washington commemorative medals was one produced by J. Manly & Co. and engraved by Samuel Brooks after Joseph Wright’s celebrated 1790 profile of Washington.

References: Charles Henry Hart, et al. Catalogue of the Engraved Portraits of Washington, 1904., No. 1556, p. 72, states, "the plate entirely worked over, the ribbon and title erased from arm, and the title etched, in large letters, in upper margin. This is evidently the old plate, but the impressions are modern." A restrike print is held by Library Company of Philadelphia. and the National Portrait Gallery, and can be viewed on the Smithsonian Institution database as no. S/NPG.81.7.