George Washington at Dorchester Heights

Description

Oil on canvas full-length portrait of "George Washington at Dorchester Heights", ca. 1830-1850, by Jane Stuart after Gilbert Stuart. George Washington (1732-1799) was General of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and the First President of the United States. In this scene, he stands next to his horse on Dorchester Heights, which were a series of hills with a commanding view of Boston harbor. Continental forces occupied and fortified this position in early March 1776 in anticipation of a British assault. The hills were armed with large cannon and up to six thousand men. A large snow storm prevented any major action there and British forces withdrew from Boston. Defense of the heights continued through the rest of the war. In 1806, American portrait painter Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828) was commissioned by the City of Boston to create the original "George Washington at Dorchester Heights," which is currently on deposit at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. After the artist's death in 1828, his daughter Jane Stuart (1812-1888) was regularly commissioned to make reproductions of her fathers work. The painting came into the possession of a Mr. A. C. Meyer, who gifted the painting to the Germania Club in 1895. The club donated the painting to the Maryland Historical Society in 1918.