The Elbert County tribune., 1913-02-21

Every one" answers the public
mot one" say experts in Washingtonia.
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 a thousand
knows what the first president looked like in life.
For the accepted picture OF Washington. the fa-
nous Stuart portrait which has been handed
down through the generations as being lfelike
representation of Washington lineaments. which
has been reproduced hundreds of times, and from
which Americans have learned to know, or think
they know. what he looked like. has been exposed
and held up to criticism and branded every
thing but resemblance of George Washington.
The public which for 110 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 of what Washington
looked like in the flesh. Trusting little school
children. gazing upon the classic countenance
the schoolroom wall, have been basely de-
ceived Washington did not look like that or
anything near It. 1t is said.
This picture. say the researchers, Is far
moved from the true Washington. The public,
they say, doesn't know the father 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
real Washington, portrait quite different from
the accepted one. This portrait. painted by the
great Washington painter. Stuart. in 1895. is
declared to be the one that shows the man he
really was. depicting his features and characters
tics with the sternest fidelity and truthfuness,
and making likeness so true that It should
have been handed down through the ages as
record Of what Washington looked like. 1t was
accepted 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
like! But this portrait. the true 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
IDENTIFY point out a picture of the father OF
their country, is quite another picture. 1t also
was painted by Stuart in 1896, 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.
cd as absolutely correct Mrs. Washington didn't
like IT; but the public and washingtons old sol
diers liked It, 1t their idea of what they
wanted their hero to look like. Hence its rapid
growth iEto popularity, and the practical eclipse
of the other portrait. declared to be tie true
Washington.
Stuart. It is well known, made three great at
tempts to transfer the being OF Washington to
canvas. The first was, the painter declared a
fnilure, because the confidence necessary be-
tween subject and artist lacking. The sec
ond was success. Stuart learned that he could
get his famous sitter interested in talking
horse" and 80 he painted him he really was.
The third attempt resulted In the conventional
Household Washington 1t lacked said Mrs.
Washington, truth. 1t lacked said Stuart the ami
nation characteristic of the general. But it made
its way into popularity. Hence. say historians.
che public knows not the country's own father.
Upwards Of thirty oil paintings from life BY