George and Martha Washington Chromolithograph Portraits by E.C. Middleton

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George and Martha Washington Chromolithograph Portraits by E.C. Middleton

About the Item

This is a pair of chromolithographed portraits of George and Martha Washington, printed in 1864 by the famous chromolithographer E.J. Middleton. Elijah Middleton is regarded as one of the leading pioneers of chromolithography. Middleton opened his engraving firm in Cincinnati, a growing financial hub during the mid-nineteenth city. As the demand for color printing increased, Middleton and his partner W.R. Wallace shifted from engraving to chromolithographs. They added a third partner in 1860, Hines Strobridge, building a partnership that became the basis for the publishing giant Strobridge & Company. In 1861, Middleton started his own company as a “Portrait Publisher”. Middleton printed his chromolithograph portraits with "warranted oil-colors.” The resulting prints were beautifully rich in color, closely mimicking original oil paintings. His portrait subjects were both historical, like this pair of George and Martha Washington, as well as contemporary; Middleton published portraits of Ulysses S. Grant, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and an especially striking one of Abraham Lincoln. These chromolithographed oval portraits of George and Martha Washington are based off of earlier paintings by Gilbert Stuart. In the summer of 1796, after seeing Gilbert Stuart’s first oil portrait of Washington, Martha Washington commissioned a pair of portraits of herself and the President from Stuart, which she planned to display at Mount Vernon. Both are depicted from the shoulders up, in a dignified partial profile. Stuart painted George Washington with a direct and purposeful gaze; the resulting portrait is a stoic depiction of great leader. John Neal, an early nineteenth-century writer and art critic, wrote, “Though a better likeness of him were shown to us, we should reject it; for, the only IDEA that we now have of George Washington, is associated with Stuart’s Washington.” The portraits of Martha and George are known as the “Athenaeum” images because the Boston Athenaeum library acquired them after Stuart’s death in 1828. These are beautiful and highly collectable chromolithographed portraits, celebrating our first President and First Lady. Condition: Both of the chromolithographed portraits were printed in oil colors. They remain on their original oval wood frames. Frames have original black ink Middleton stamps on the back, which read: “Warranted Oil Colors. Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by E. C. Middleton, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Cincinnati.” Original nails remain along the frames’ oval edges. Lithographs have been conserved. Martha Washington portrait had visible water stain and damage to stretcher, both conserved and stabilized. Each lithograph roughly measures 17 inches by 14 inches. Ink in good condition, with only minimal loss to outside margins near stretcher. Both oval portraits have been artfully presented together in one frame. Portraits are displayed floating on dark linen mats in a custom-built black and beaded gold frame.

Dimensions:
Height: 30 in (76.2 cm)Width: 45 in (114.3 cm)Depth: 2.5 in (6.35 cm)
Period:
1860-1869
Date of Manufacture:
1864
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. Minor structural damages.
Seller Location:
Colorado Springs, CO
Reference Number:
Seller: PR2071stDibs: LU90979265013