In a land where horsemanship was often men’s touchiest point of pride, Jefferson had to admit he never saw Washington’s like for grace and control in the saddle. A froniter runner and Indian wrestler — his friend George Mercer described his frame as padded with well-developed muscles
— Washington had by 1774 refined mere energy down to a grace of least movement, the higher athleticism of the dance. And he danced well.
James Peale (1749—1831)
Watercolor on ivory; 1 1/2 x 1 in. (3.8 x 2.5 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Watercolor on ivory; 1 1/2 x 1 in. (3.8 x 2.5 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Oil on canvas; 36 x 27 in. (91.4 x 68.6 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Oil on canvas; 61.5 x 89.5 cm. (24 3/16 x 35 1/4 in.) Princeton University Museum of Art, Princeton, NJ.
Oil on canvas; 20 1/2 x 29 7/16in. (52.1 x 74.8cm). Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Colonial Williamsburg, VA.
Oil on canvas; 20 3/8 x 29 5/8in. (51.8 x 75.2cm). Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Colonial Williamsburg, VA.
Oil on canvas; 55.9 x 47.6 x 2.5cm (22 x 18 3/4 x 1"). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
Watercolor on ivory; 1 3/4 x 1 1/4 in. (4.4 x 3.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Watercolor on ivory; 1 7/8 x 1 1/2 in. (4.8 x 3.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Inventing America: Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence (1978)