Description
This print reproduces Noel Le Mire’s etching and engraving Le General Washington, after a painting by Jean-Baptiste Le Paon that belonged to the Marquis de Lafayette. The Metropolitan Museum of Art catalogs impressions as 1780 (24.90.156). Subscriptions were advertised in Paris in 1780. Publication notices ran in 1781 and 1782. The Museum of the American Revolution dates its impression 1782.
Washington stands before a tent holding papers of the Revolution, among them a map of New Windsor. A Black groom holds the horse. Scattered bills on the ground are keyed to a French translation. The head derives from Charles Willson Peale’s 1776 portrait, a replica Lafayette took to France in 1779. Le Paon added the camp, horse, and documents. This listing is the French print, not a White House oil.
This listing is a contemporary reproduction of the historic print, not an original impression. Choose fine art paper, luster photo paper, or mounted canvas.
