Named for Samuel Vaughan, an American merchant living in London, who was the recipient of the original painting. Gilbert Stuart made 12 to 16 copies of the Vaughan painting and then stopped after he obtained commissions to paint new portraits of Washington.
Washington sat for Gilbert Stuart in Philadelphia between 1795 and 1796. These sittings resulted in three distinct images: the Vaughan
type (facing to his left), the Athenaeum
head (facing to his right — and used in reverse on the one dollar bill), and the Lansdowne
portrait (full-length).