Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1913-02-21

Every one" answers the public
Not one" say experts in Westinghouse.
The public, secure IN its knowledge Of the por-
traits accepted as portraying the features of
Washington Is confident that 1t knows Washing
ton too well to make any mistake The historians.
knowing Of what the public is ignorant. calmly
aver that not one American patriot in thousand
knows what the first president locked like In life.
For the accepted picture of Washington, the ia
nous Stuart portrait which has been handed
down through the generations rs being a lfelike
representation OF Washington fineaments. which
has been reproduced hundreds Of times and from
which Americans have learned 10 know, or think
they know. what he looked Ike. has been exposed
and held up to criticism and branded as every
thing but resemblance of George Washington.
The public, which for 10 years has looked upon
this face depicted In books magazines. on flags,
everywhere that the face OF the father of the
country has been reproduced never has seen
faithful representation or what Washington
looked like in the flesh Trusting little school
children, gazing upon the classic eountenance
the schoolroom wall have been basely de-
ceived. Washington did not look like that or
anything 1t, 1t Is said
This picture, say the researchers, is far re-
moved from the true Washington. The public,
they say, doesn't know the fgther of the country
and wouldn't recognize him II they met him face
to face the street
The how and the whyfore OF this startling an
nouncement comes through the disclosure OF q
real Washington portrait quite different from
the accepted This portrait. painted by the
great Washington painter. Stuart, In 1895, Is
declared to be the one chat shows the man as he
really was depicting his features and characters
tics With the sternest fidelity and truthfulness
and making likeness so true that it should
have been handed down through the ages as a
record of what Washington locked like. 1t was
accepted as such by Mrs George Washington
and by the entire household at Mount Vernon
Surely say the historians. his own wife and
family ought to know what Washington looked
lke But this portrait. the FRYE Washington"
is not the that the public has been led to
believe is George Washington.
The commonly accepted portrait the one which
hangs in duplicate on the walls of every school
room in the land and which Americans conf
IDENTITY point out as a picture of the father Of
their country is quite another picture 1t also
was painted by Stuart in 1876. but the magic
bond that had made the painter and subject at
ease with each other was gone and Stuart turned
from his work in disgust. declaring that the pic
ture lacked the animation that characterized
Washington, and was never completed
Yet this is the picture which has been accept
ed as absolutely correct Mrs Washington didn't
like 1t: but the public and washington's old sol
diers liked it. II was their idea of what they
wanted their hero to loon like. Hence its rapid
growth into popularity, aud the practical eclipse
of the other portrait. declared to be the true
Washington
Stuart. 1t is wen known. made three great ak
tempts to transfer the being OF Washington to
canvas The first was. the painter declared
failure, because the confidence necessary be
tween subject and artist was lacking. The sec
end was success, Stuart learned that he could
get his famous sitter interested in talking
horse" and so he painted him as he really was
The third attempt resulted In the conventional
household Washington" II lacked said Mrs
Washington truth II lacked said Stuart. the ami
nation characteristic of the general But it made
its way into popularity Hence say historians
the public knows not the setrv's own father
Upwards % thirtv from llfe by