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An eloquent new look at the beginnings of the American republic—through the portraits of its first icon, George Washington, and the painters who defined him. “I am so hackneyed to the touches of the painters pencil, that I am now altogether at their beck…no dray moves more readily to the Thill, than I do to the Painters Chair.”—George Washington, May 16, 1785 When George Washington was born, the New World had virtually no artists. Over the course of his life and career, a cultural transformation would occur. Virtually everyone regarded Washington as America’s indispensable man, and the early painters and sculptors were no exception. Hugh Howard brings to life the founding fathers of American painting, and the elusive Washington himself, through the history of their portraits. We meet Charles Willson Peale, the comrade-in-arms; John Trumbull, the aristocrat; Benjamin West, the mentor; and Gilbert Stuart, the brilliant wastrel and most gifted painter of his day. Howard’s narrative traces Washington’s interaction with these and other artists, while offering a fresh and intimate portrait of the first president. The Painter’s Chair is an engaging narrative of how America’s first painters toiled to create an art worthy of the new republic, and of the hero whom they turned into an icon. Hugh Howard’s numerous books include Dr. Kimball and Mr. Jefferson; the definitive Thomas Jefferson, Architect; his memoir House-Dreams; and most recently the very successful Houses of the Founding Fathers. “I am so hackneyed to the touches of the painters pencil, that I am now altogether at their beck . . . no dray moves more readily to the Thill, than I do to the Painters Chair.”—George Washington, May 16, 1785 Hugh Howard's The Painter's Chair takes an eloquent new look at the beginnings of the American republic—through the portraits of its first icon, George Washington, and the painters who defined him. When George Washington was born, the New World had virtually no artists. Over the course of his life and career, a cultural transformation would occur. Virtually everyone regarded Washington as America’s indispensable man, and the early painters and sculptors were no exception. Hugh Howard brings to life the founding fathers of American painting, and the elusive Washington himself, through the history of their portraits. We meet Charles Willson Peale, the comrade-in-arms; John Trumbull, the aristocrat; Benjamin West, the mentor; and Gilbert Stuart, the brilliant wastrel and most gifted painter of his day. Howard’s narrative traces Washington’s interaction with these and other artists, while offering a fresh and intimate portrait of the first president. The Painter’s Chair is an engaging narrative of how America’s first painters toiled to create an art worthy of the new republic, and of the hero whom they turned into an icon. "Howard, who has written extensively about the Founding Father's attitudes toward architecture, has produced in The Painter's Chair a serious work of art history. Alternating Washington's turns in the chair with episodes in the lives of painters such as John Trumbull and Gilbert Stuart, he shows us how the course of human events in the young nation helped to break new ground in image-making as well."—Michael Moynihan, Wilson Quarterly
"[A] lively narrative . . . A novel, ingeniously executed approach to the inspiring man whose dollar-bill likeness is arguably the most reproduced painted image in history."—Kirkus Reviews "Patron of the arts is not the first association one makes with George Washington, but Howard elegantly makes the case that the founder of the nation also helped establish America’s art. Though architecture, not painting, was Washington’s preferred art, America’s first prominent artists painted him: Charles Willson Peale, John Trumbull, Benjamin West and Gilbert Stuart, the most distinguished American painter of the period. Washington, who Howard argues was 'easier to see and admire than to understand,' is subtly revealed in a narrative that is precisely paced and elegantly composed."—Publishers Weekly ...
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When they declared independence in Philadelphia in 1776, they changed the course of Western history. But the patriots—landowners, merchants, and professional men who hailed from towns, cities, and plantations scattered along the eastern seaboard—had private lives too, quite apart from the public deeds we know so well. In this breathtaking volume, historian Hugh Howard and photographer Roger Straus examine the everyday lives of the Founding Fathers.
Houses of the Founding Fathers takes us on an eye-opening tour of forty stately eighteenth-century houses. We see the mansions of such legendary figures as Jefferson, Washington, Adams, and Hamilton, along with the homes of many other signers of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. At sites from Maine to Georgia, with stops in each of the thirteen colonies, the grand story of the Revolution emerges from unique and individual domestic perspectives.
Houses overlooking the sea, in busy townscapes, or atop mountains reveal these patriots’ tastes in architecture, furniture, and horticulture. There are tales of friends and enemies, murderous relatives, reluctant revolutionaries, adoring wives, and runaway servants. The founding families are brought to life in the rituals of birth and death, the food they ate, the archaic medical practices they endured, their household arrangements, and the way their slaves lived.
Houses of the Founding Fathers offers a penetrating look at the private lives of the men whose ideas ignited an insurrection against England—and who helped create the modern world....
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