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Summary

Charles Willson Peale: George Washington at the Battle of Princeton   (  )
Artist	Charles Willson Peale  (1741–1827)     Description American portrait painter Date of birth/death 15 April 1741  22 February 1827  Location of birth/death St. Paul's Parish, Maryland Philadelphia Work location East coast of North America Authority file : Q454945 VIAF: 72190360 ISNI: 0000000082623463 ULAN: 500017914 LCCN: n80025860 NLA: 35413732 WorldCat artist QS:P170,Q454945
Title	George Washington at the Battle of Princeton
Object type	painting object_type QS:P31,Q3305213
Date	1779 date QS:P571,+1779-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Medium	oil on canvas medium QS:P186,Q296955;P186,Q12321255,P518,Q861259
Dimensions	915/8" x 583/8"
Source/Photographer	United States Capitol Collection.
Permission (Reusing this file)	Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse This image is in the public domain because it contains materials that originally came from the United States Army Center of Military History, subject to the following qualification. Note: The images of all badges, insignia, decorations and medals on the "CMH Online" web site are produced by the United States Army Institute of Heraldry and protected by Title 18, United States Code, Section 704 and the Code of Federal Regulations (32 CFR, Part 507). Permission to use these images for commercial purposes must be obtained from The Institute of Heraldry prior to their use. – US Army Center for Military History

GEORGE WASHINGTON was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on 22 February 1732; was educated in the home by his father and older brother; was appointed county surveyor for Culpeper, 1749, and a district adjutant general in the Virginia militia, 1752; was detailed by Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia to carry a British ultimatum to the French on the Ohio frontier, 1753; was commissioned a lieutenant colonel and led an abortive expedition against the French at Fort Duquesne, 1754; was aide to General Edward Braddock on the ill-fated Monongahela expedition, 1755; was promoted to colonel and named commander of all Virginia forces, 1755; participated as a brigadier general in the Forbes expedition that prompted French evacuation of Fort Duquesne, and British establishment of Pittsburgh, 1758; was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, 1758; married Martha Dandridge Custis, 1759; was a justice of Fairfax and held court in Alexandria, Virginia, 1760-1774; served as a Virginia delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses, 1774 and 1775; was appointed general and elected by Congress to be commander in chief of the Continental Army, June 1775; assumed command of the Continental Army in the field at Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 1775; served as commander in chief of the Continental Army, 15 June 1775-23 December 1783; commanded the field forces in significant Revolutionary War actions at Boston (March 1776), Trenton (December 1776), Princeton (January 1777), Brandywine (September 1777), Germantown (October 1777), Monmouth (June 1778), and Yorktown (October 1781); delivered his farewell address to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York City, December 1783; tendered his resignation as commander in chief, December 1783.

The Artist

Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) was born in St. Paul's Parish, Queen Annes County, Maryland. He turned to portrait painting when circumstances forced him to abandon his early trade of saddler, and studied under John Hesselius in America and Benjamin West in England. A militia officer in the Revolution, his miniature portraits of his fellow officers became the nucleus of the Philadelphia Museum collection, and he was later instrumental in the establishment of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His contemporary standing portrait of General George Washington hangs in the Senate wing of the renowned building that houses the United States Congress in Washington, D.C., and is reproduced from the United States Capitol Collection.