George Washington at Princeton (c. 1779): Art, History and Details

George Washington at Princeton (c. 1779) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Charles Willson Peale (American, born The Thirteen Colonies, 1741–1827); Workshop.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Because Peale served under General Washington and befriended him during the Revolutionary War, he was an ideal candidate to commemorate Washington's important early victory at Princeton, NJ. Here, in the quiet aftermath of battle, the general is accompanied by his horse and a groomsman, identified by some scholars as William Lee, a mixed-race enslaved man Washington forced to work as his personal assistant. Also present is a line of captured British redcoat soldiers that animates the background at left. Peale produced several versions of this composition amid a rally of enthusiasm for the American cause. Whereas some were commissioned by American colonists—as in the case here—others were ordered by Washington's admirers in France, Spain, Holland, Cuba, and even England.

Object facts

• Title: George Washington at Princeton
• Date: c. 1779
• Creator attribution: Charles Willson Peale (American, born The Thirteen Colonies, 1741–1827); Workshop
• Culture: America
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 153 x 144 x 7 cm (60 1/4 x 56 11/16 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 131 x 121.6 cm (51 9/16 x 47 7/8 in.)
• Collection: American - Painting
• Department: American Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1917.946

A detail from the museum

Artist and scientist Peale directed the first dig of a mastodon skeleton in the US.

Collection credit

Membership Income Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Scharf, J. Thomas. History of Western Maryland: Being a History of Frederick, Montgomery, Carroll, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties from the Earliest Period to the Present Day ; Including Biographical Sketches of Their Representative Men. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts, 1882.
• Stock Disposition Cards, Sold Paintings, Macbeth Gallery records, 1838-1968, bulk, 1892-1953, Archives of American Art, Washington, DC.
• Photographs of Artwork and Records of Paintings Sold, Box 156, Macbeth Gallery records, 1838-1968, bulk, 1892-1953, Archives of American Art, Washington, DC.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.