Washington Related
1790 Rare Etching of George Washington by Joseph Wright
(1790) Federal Period, Scarce Portrait Etching of George Washington, by Joseph Wright Pinx, after G.A. Lehman sculpture, Choice Crisp Extremely Fine.
Nice crisp printed Etching of George Washington facing right wearing his Revolutionary War military uniform, sharply printed with some press text embossing present, onto some light card stock that measures about 4.75" x 7.5". The central oval Portrait etching is after the original sculpture by G.A. Lehman. Outer margins lighter having apparently been protected in a frame, the central portions even in tone. Old mounting traces on the blank upper reverse. Below the image is a sonnet in Dutch, by P.H. Themmen. Joseph Wright was involved to a small degree with America's first Coins (Liberty Cap Half Cent (1793)) as President Washington's original choice for Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint, so this is an interesting and valuable tie-in. Banner below the bust reads: "G. WASHINGTON." Very Rare as we could locate one other known example of this Engraved Bust of G. Washington (1790), at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hart 139a, Baker 90.
Joseph Wright (July 16, 1756, Bordentown, New Jersey " September 13, 1793, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American portrait painter and sculptor. He painted life portraits of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, and was a designer of early U.S. Coinage. Wright was President Washington's original choice for Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint.
Congress also commissioned Wright to model a life-size plaster relief bust of Washington, that he completed in January 1785.[28] He created a half-size plaster version of this for Martha Washington, that remains at Mount Vernon.[29] He modeled at least two profile relief heads in wax, that are now at Mount Vernon and the Winterthur Museum in Delaware. Wright painted a c.1790 profile bust of Washington in uniform, which he engraved and published as a print. Thomas Jefferson judged Wright's engraving very highly: "I have no hesitation in pronouncing Wright's drawing to be a better likeness of the General than [Charles Willson] Peale's.