PUBLIC FAVORITES (14)

Gilbert Stuart was a Tory who quit his Rhode Island home to avoid the alarums and excursions of the American Revolution, learned the art of portraiture in London, and returned to paint the first five Presidents of the Republic. He did three original studies of George Washington, from which he made more than 100 copies. The second and least idealized version (see, cut) is the public's favorite painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

The busy President posed only for the grave, ruddy head, but his subject's false teeth gave Stuart trouble, and he never got the mouth to look quite right. As a result, the painting has a somewhat grandmotherly air--despite the sword which Washington seems to clutch for assurance as he extends a reassuring right hand. The vague resemblance of the figure to a teapot, with the arms serving for handle and spout, earned the picture a sneering title: "The Teapot Portrait."

Washington was besieged by portraitists; he described himself as being "so hackneyed to the touch of painters' pencils, that I am now altogether at their beck." But Stuart was far & away the best artist of the lot, and today the world sees Washington through Stuart's eyes--on every dollar bill.

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