Evening star., 1923-02-22
The North Window
BY LEILA MECHLIN,

was made, greatly to the surprise or
her grandparent who accompanied
her, and others present. she looked up
and said: when l am grown 1 want
to be an artist so that / can paint
your picture 1t was a desire to
paint the portrait of the first Presi-
dent of the United States which
brought Gilbert Stuart back to
America from London, where he had
studied under Benjamin West and
had established for himself a place
among the great painters of England
or that day. Washington gave Gill
pert Stuart certain number or SIT
tings and of these he made excellent
use, copying and recopying his
original study, and haUding down to
US through a series Of slightly varied
transcriptions what has come to be
recognized as a true likeness of this
first great American-the Father or
our Country, whose birthday is today
being celebrated throughout the land.
There is slight variation in the
Stuart its. The Athenaeum
portrait, il is unfinished and is
owned by the Boston Museum of Fine
Arts, shows the face turned slightly
TO the right and is the one most
familiar, the one commonly accepted
as the type of Washington, and copied
more or less closely for the govern
ment postage stamps. bank notes. etc
1t was from this portrait that stuart
made most of his copies. and 1t is
known that he never parted from the
original during his lifetime. Yet
many are inclined to feel that ii is
not so true a likeness OF the great
man as the Gibbs-Channing portrait
in the Metropolitan Museum painted
year earlier. or the portrait now IN
show the head turned in the opposite
direction These portraits have more
individuality and are more vltai lnah
the more familiar "Athenaeum por-
trait. The portrait in the Frick col COZ
lection came to light about four years
ago after having been lost sight or
for approximately 125 wears. All
this while 1t was supposedly in Eng
land or Scotland. but when II was
painted or how it was sent abroad
to whom it was sent, where II mao
spent all these years, no one yet
knows Its appearance In tnls
country and the price 1t brought,
$4,000, created no little sensation IN
the art world.
In the days of Washington there
was no photography, and if the ap-
pearance of a person was to be pre-
had to be through the medium OF the
art of the painter or sculptor. POS
sibly for this reason the painted por-
trait had a little larger place in the
public esteem then than now, and
perhaps the very fact that it was
called forth as requirement put
the artists on their mettle, with the
result that the general output seems
to have been better then than now.
Certainly we have every reason TO
be proud of the works of a number
of our early American portrait paint
ers, men who with comparatively
short apprenticeships produced por-
traits which are not only conVlnc-
ing, but are to be regarded as works
of art of a high order of excellence
Take for example. certain portraits
in the Corcoran Gallery of Art-the
portrait Of Benjamin Franklin by
Joseph Wright; Naegel's portrait of
Col Richard NJ. Johnson, Malbone's
beautifully painted d. sci, se,f-p9rtTaht' pc Tahn
Randolph-even Charles Loring Ell
licott's portraits of Col. Mckenney
and William Cullen Bryant. all of
which are definite presentations of
living personalities, paintings which
are works of art and bear compar-
ison with the best. and portraits
which give. for historical purposes.
intimate knowledge of the characters
of the individuals who are por-
trayed.
1t is possible-and many do not
know it-for a painted portrait to be
a good likeness and to be well
painted-in other words, to simulate
the original-and yet to possess al
most no value as work of art.
Many of the official portraits of the
past and Of the present time fall
within this category. They are well
drawn, we'll modelled, recognizable
Hkenesses, but they have not one
little atom of art manifested in their
creation.
The portrait which is work of art
is an Interpretation. 1t not only re-
produces the features of the indi-
vidual portrayed. but it indicates his
There is thought back of the eyes.
there is vitality; the features are not
frozen, but mobile. Gilbert Stuart
once said that he copied the works of
mantua maker. In other words, it
was his desire to set forth in his por-
traits the dignity, the individuality,
the spiritual quality of the persons
painted. 1t is this quality in the
portraits by the great masters OF art
of all ages which has given them and
which gives them still supreme inter-
est and Importance. If it were pos
sible to take out of their frames the
portraits painted by Leonardo da
Vinci, Titan. VelasqueZ, Rembrandt
Rubens and Van Dyck and substitute
the individuals they would not be of
the interest to the passer-by that the
painted portraits of these people are.
And why? Because the portraits are
interpretations made by man for man
with the utmost artistic skill and in
tuition. A face is of little interest il
it is expressi onless. 1t is for the
artist not only to choose the express
sion which is most significant when
he paints a portrait, but oftentimes
to combine several expressions in
such wise that they. ,typify the char
acter of the individual. It is this
which no photograph can do. and it
is this which makes the painted por-
trait by a great artist of supreme
value.
Cecilia Beaux, who is one of the
foremost portrait painters of this day,
not only in America, but in the west
ern world, said once that she only
painted what she saw; but she has
the ability to see correctly and to
present her subject most artistically
She is represented at the present time
in the Pennsylvania Academy's cur
rent exhibition by a portrait of her
nephew's wife and little child-a large
canvas of monumental dignity and
beauty. The likeness. is convincing,
but more than this. the figure is well
posed, the compost ton charming in
design, the color scheme most lovely
Not one false note is struck, accent
Is laid just in the right place, the fig
ure is enveloped in atmosphere, the
presentation is strong but reticent-
the whole picture is as q musical COM
position in which every element is