Document 6-4: James Peale, General George Washington at Yorktown (c. 1782)

A Republican Hero Emerges

JAMES PEALE, General George Washington at Yorktown (c. 1782)

Charles Willson Peale’s full-length George Washington portrait helped the general become the icon of the American Revolution. Charles and his brother, James, created several versions depicting Washington in different landscapes. In this version by James, Washington has just defeated the British at the decisive battle at Yorktown (1781), which led swiftly to the British general Charles Cornwallis’s surrender and the war’s end. The French and American flags behind Washington acknowledge the 1773 Treaty of Alliance. The Yorktown battlefield can be seen in the background.

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Source: General George Washington (1732–1799) at Yorktown, Virginia (color litho), Peale, James (1749–1831) (after) / Private Collection / Peter Newark American Pictures / The Bridgeman Art Library.

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