George Washington and His Wife

Originally created abt. 1780 by an unknown Pennsylvania artist, this decorative print entitled "EXSELENC GEORG WASCHINGDON AND LEDY WASCHINGDON" is as rare as it is colorful.

The leading figure of the new republic is here presented with "Ledy Waschingdon" in this small watercolor in which design and color lend enchantment to the drawing. The artist is identified only by his style. A handful of drawings are attributed to him, all of them showing women with net headdresses that lead to his identification as the "bee bonnet" fractur maker. In this painting, the best known of his works, space is used with great economy and inventiveness; the composition is carefully planned so that the figures strongly dominate the area inside the decorated border. The formal stance of the figures reduces fame to fable and the title echoes the guttural pronunciation of the Pennsylvania Germans. Imaginative and gay, the watercolor of General and Ledy Waschingdon shows the use of a traditional European form to interpret, in a fresh idiom, familiar American history.

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