View of the Birthplace of George Washington.

[CHAPMAN, John Gadsby; George Washington].

$6,500.00

Item Number: 145244

Rare nineteenth century oil painting after John Gadsby Chapman (New York/Italy, 1808-1889) depicting the birthplace of President George Washington in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Oil on canvas, the painting depicts the inlet of the Potomac River which divides the site of the Washington family home at Pope’s Creek Plantation in the foreground from the Maryland shore and farmyard visible in the distance. A stone marker in the extreme foreground reads: “Here on the 22 February AD 1732 Geo Washington was Born.” Likely an early copy of the engraving after John Gadsby Chapman’s painting of the same scene, now in the collection of Mount Vernon. “Chapman painted nine landscapes illustrating locations significant to the life of George Washington. The series begins with the site of Washington’s birth at the Pope’s Creek Plantation in Westmoreland County, continues through the site of the Battle of Yorktown, and concludes with scenes of Mount Vernon including the bedchamber in which Washington died and the new tomb in which he was interred in 1831. Chapman exhibited seven of these paintings at the National Academy of Design in New York City during the summer of 1835. Later, nine of the paintings were acquired by James Kirke Paulding (1778-1860), the New York author and onetime Secretary of the Navy, who illustrated two of the works in his 1835 biography of George Washington.” (Donald W. Reynolds Museum, George Washington’s Mount Vernon). In near fine condition. Housed in a giltwood frame with nameplate. The painting measures 17.5 inches by 23.5 inches. The entire piece measures 23.5 inches by 29.5 inches.

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, at Popes Creek in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He was the first of six children of Augustine and Mary Ball Washington. His father was a justice of the peace and a prominent public figure who had four additional children from his first marriage to Jane Butler. The family moved to Little Hunting Creek in 1734 before eventually settling in Ferry Farm near Fredericksburg, Virginia. When Augustine died in 1743, Washington inherited Ferry Farm and ten slaves; his older half-brother Lawrence inherited Little Hunting Creek and renamed it Mount Vernon.