id: 98268 accession number: 1917.946 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1917.946 updated: 2024-03-26 01:56:23.866000 George Washington at Princeton, c. 1779. Charles Willson Peale (American, 1741–1827), and Workshop. Oil on canvas; framed: 153 x 144 x 7 cm (60 1/4 x 56 11/16 x 2 3/4 in.); unframed: 131 x 121.6 cm (51 9/16 x 47 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Membership Income Fund 1917.946 title: George Washington at Princeton title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1779 creation date earliest: 1774 creation date latest: 1784 current location: 204 Colonial American creditline: Membership Income Fund copyright: --- culture: America, 18th century technique: oil on canvas department: American Painting and Sculpture collection: American - Painting type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Charles Willson Peale (American, 1741–1827) - artist * Workshop - artist --- measurements: Framed: 153 x 144 x 7 cm (60 1/4 x 56 11/16 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 131 x 121.6 cm (51 9/16 x 47 7/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition opening date: 1936-06-26T04:00:00 The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936). title: 35th Anniversary Exhibition opening date: 1951-06-20T04:00:00 35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951). title: Art: The International Language opening date: 1956-10-02T04:00:00 Art: The International Language. The Cleveland Museum of Art (October 2-November 4, 1956). title: Heritage and Horizon: American Painting 1776 - 1976 opening date: 1976-03-07T05:00:00 Heritage and Horizon: American Painting 1776 - 1976. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (organizer) (March 7-April 11, 1976); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (May 2-June 13, 1976); The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH (July 4-August 15, 1976); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 8-October 10, 1976). title: Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum opening date: 1991-06-07T04:00:00 Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991). title: Currents and Constellations: Black Art in Focus opening date: 2022-02-20T05:00:00 Currents and Constellations: Black Art in Focus. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 20-June 26, 2022). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of The Cleveland Museum of Art; The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition (26 June-4 October 1936), cat. no. 38.', 'opening_date': '1936-06-26T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Art: The International Language (2 October-4 November 1956)', 'opening_date': '1956-10-02T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Greensburg, PA, The Westmoreland County Museum of Art, Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Art in Pennsylvania (1959), cat. no. 87, illus. plate 8.', 'opening_date': '1959-01-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, The Peale Family: Three Generations of American Artists (18 January-5 March 1967); traveled to Utica, NY, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute (19 March-30 April 1967), cat. no. 52, illus. p. 13, listed p. 66-67.', 'opening_date': '1967-01-18T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Heritage and Horizon: American Painting, 1776-1976 (6 March-11 April 1976); traveled to Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts (5 May-13 June 1976); Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art (4 July-15 August 1976); Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art (8 September-10 October 1976), illus. cat. no. 1.', 'opening_date': '1976-03-06T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum (6 June-8 September 1991)', 'opening_date': '1991-06-06T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE Colonel Frisby Tilghman [1773-1847], Talbot County, Maryland, by descent to his son-in-law, Thomas Jefferson McKaig1 date: Probably until 1847 footnotes: *
The information provided by Macbeth Gallery mentions Tilghman’s “home in Rockland [MD] where the portrait hung for many years, never going out of the family until its recent sale to Macbeth Gallery.” The painting’s ownership prior to Tilghman is uncertain.  In his Portraits and Miniatures by Charles Willson Peale (1952), Charles Coleman Sellers suggests that because the painting had been owned by Frisby Tilghman, it was probably painted for his father, Judge James Tilghman (1743-1809), who was well acquainted with the artist.  This is purely conjecture, however, as there is no documentation confirming James Tilghman’s ownership of the painting.
citations: General Thomas Jefferson McKaig [1804-1882], Cumberland, Maryland, by descent to his son, Dr. Frisby Tilghman McKaig date: Probably 1847-probably 1882 footnotes: citations: Dr. Frisby Tilghman McKaig [1859-1921], Andrews, North Carolina, consigned to Jonce I. McGurk through Macbeth Gallery date: Probably 1882-1915 footnotes: citations: (Jonce I. McGurk through Macbeth Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1 date: 1915-1917 footnotes: *
1McKaig authorized McGurk to sell the painting on his behalf upon agreement of a price. 
citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio date: 1917- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Scharf, J. Thomas. History of Western Maryland: Being a History of Frederick, Montgomery, Carroll, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties from the Earliest Period to the Present Day ; Including Biographical Sketches of Their Representative Men. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts, 1882. page number: url: Stock Disposition Cards, Sold Paintings, Macbeth Gallery records, 1838-1968, bulk, 1892-1953, Archives of American Art, Washington, DC. page number: url: Photographs of Artwork and Records of Paintings Sold, Box 156, Macbeth Gallery records, 1838-1968, bulk, 1892-1953, Archives of American Art, Washington, DC. page number: url: DePrizio, Jennifer. "Finding Connections: Comparison as an interpretive learning tool.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 62, no. 1: 16-17. page number: Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 16. url: "Special Exhibition Cabinet." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 5, no. 1 (1918). page number: Reproduced: p. 2; Mentioned: p. 3 url: www.jstor.org/stable/25136158 "Washington at the Battle of Princeton by Charles Wilson Peale." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 5, no. 2/3 (1918): 19-20. page number: Reproduced: Front Matter; Mentioned: p. 19-20 url: www.jstor.org/stable/25136170 "Report of the Museum's Second Year." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 5, no. 6/7 (1918): 69-79. page number: Mentioned: pp. 70, 71 url: www.jstor.org/stable/25136208 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned: cat. no. 527 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n97 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 199 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n219 Adams, Henry. What's American about American art?: a gallery tour in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008. page number: Reproduced: p. 44 - 45 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.946/1917.946_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.946/1917.946_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.946/1917.946_full.tif