The hero of the War of Independence against Great Britain, George Washington became the first president of the United States of America. Gilbert Stuart (1755−1828), his principal portrait painter, produced a hundred works based on the traditional European model
for portraits of sovereigns, as here, in which he places Washington against the background of a red drape and a rainbow, the symbol of the promised land in the Bible and a metaphor here of hope in a new nation. However, art no longer had the purpose of glorifying a princely figure as a hero. With his sober dress and serene expression of maturity, Washington is shown working for his people as a man of action and vision, his hand resting with assurance on a document. In this solemn portrait, the focus is on his subject’s psychological strength, his visionary gaze, and the experience acquired with age.