George Washington

Adolph Ulrich Wertmuller

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Swedish portraitist Wertmuller worked in Paris until the upheavals of the French Revolution drove him to Madrid and then Philadelphia. In early November 1794 he completed his first portrait of Washington, which he replicated many times. With its fussy lace ruff and powder-speckled coat, Wertmuller's portrayal of Washington was both admired and condemned. Some proclaimed it the finest likeness of the president, while others, who preferred the work of Peale, Stuart, and Trumbull, deemed it overly precious and not at all like him.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art