Patriae Pater (Father of the Nation), c. 1846 by Rembrandt Peale (American, 1778-1860)

Rembrandt PealePatriae Pater (Father of the Nation), c. 1846Oil on canvas, 36 x 30 in.Signed lower left: Rembrandt Peale “Every American considers it his sacred duty to have a likeness of Washington in his home, just as we have images of God’s saints.”— Avrahm Yarmolinsky, Picturesque United States of America, 1930 At age seventeen, Rembrandt Peale (American, 1778–1860) painted George Washington from life, initiating a lifelong effort to capture the ideal likeness of the first president. His goal was to create the “Standard National Likeness”—a portrait that would embody both the man and the myth of Washington, the "Father of Our Country." By the mid-19th century, Peale’s image of Washington had become iconic. It was reproduced widely in print and paint, and is held in such institutions as the White House, the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Huntington Library—and now, here at Anthony’s Fine Art. “I assembled in my Painting Room every document representing in any degre