The portrait of George Washington, inspiration of the dollar, is up for auction

The portrait, commissioned by James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, could fetch a value between 500,000 and 1 million dollars. Stuart was the painter who portrayed Washington several times, even though the president was reluctant to pose. The work belongs to the “Athenaeum” series, the most famous of the three main versions painted by Stuart in the 1890s, together with the “Vaughn” and “Lansdowne” types. Martha Washington had commissioned the “Athenaeum,” which Stuart left unfinished to keep a personal copy to reproduce and sell.

The historical path of the painting has been carefully reconstructed: after Madison, the work passed to the president’s wife, then to his son, the magnate William Henry Aspinwall, the industrialist James W. Ellsworth, the collector William K. Bixby and finally to the Clarkson family, founders of Clarkson University, where the painting has remained to this day. It is estimated that approximately 75 copies of the “Athenaeum” series exist today. The auction record for a portrait of this type is $1.06 million, set in 2015. According to Christie’s experts, this example could exceed that figure, confirming the growing interest in Stuart’s works.