A Print of the Washington Family

Object: Mezzotint
Accession #: 1984.0076

According to one historian, “a mezzotint is a distinctive tonal print made using a copper plate that is worked or ‘grounded’ using a semi-circular fine-toothed hand tool known as a ‘rocker’ so that the entire surface is roughened by tiny pits.”  The plate can then be covered with ink before being pressed against paper to produce a print.  According to the dictionary, a mezzotint is the method referred to as well as the print produced from such a plate. 

This mezzotint, one of two in Wilton's collection, was made from an engraving by John Sartain in 1840 which he based on a painting by Edward Savage completed in “Philadelphia in the year 1796."  Under the proper right corner of the print is: “Painted by Edward Savage," in the center “Published by Wm. Smith 3rd St. Philadelphia,” and under the proper left corner of the print: “Engraved by J. Sartain.” Underneath the print are the names of those depicted in painting, from the viewer’s left to right: George Washington Parke Custis, General George Washington, Eleanor Parke Custis, Martha Washington, and William Lee. The print depicts Washington as he sits at a table with his right arm resting on the shoulder of George Washington Parke Custis, who stands behind him. Across the table, on which is a map, sits Mrs. Washington pointing a folded fan to part of the map. Standing to her right is Eleanor Parke Custis. Standing behind Mrs. Washington is “Billy Lee, who was Washington’s body servant throughout the war” and “in the background is the noble aspect of the Potomac River as seen from Mt. Vernon.”   The mezzotint is lacking in a detailed view of the Potomac River, as is the case with the print from which it was produced.

Not much is known about the early career of Edward Savage. By 1785, he was painting in Boston and several years later worked in New York. He traveled to London in 1791 where he published copies of his engravings and portraits including one of George Washington. One historian explains that Savage, “was not a gifted artist, nor was he, so far as one may judge, an agreeable man” and that other artists “had nothing good to say of him or of his abilities.”  However, this same historian goes on to say that “he gave us an image that has been part of our national memory for two hundred years.” 

John Sartain was born in London in 1808 and began as an apprentice to John Swaine in 1823, from whom he learned heraldry and letter engraving.  In 1830, after marrying John Swaine’s daughter he moved to Philadelphia, Pennslvania.  From there, he produced engravings for Graham’s Magazine in 1841.  Eight years later, Sartain started publishing his own magazine, Sartain’s Union Magazine of Literature and Art.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Edgar Alan Poe were among some of its notable contributors. 

Savage had been commissioned by Harvard College to paint a portrait of Washington from life while the president was in New York and in the winter of 1789-90 he painted George and Martha Washington.  Savage’s grandson, “supposes that he [Savage] used these portraits of George and Martha Washington for the family group [painting].”  The engraving of the Washington family was done by Sartain from a lithograph of the work by Savage and not from the actual painting.  Details in Savage’s work are not included in Sartain’s engraving, which a journalist for the New York Times, writing in 1892 about the works by the two, states, “prove that Sartain must have worked without the aid of painting or engraving.” 

Original painting by Edward Savage

George Washington had become a national icon following the American Revolution.  After he was elected president, Washington’s face became “a recognized symbol of victory and liberty.”  According to the last will and testament of William Randolph IV, of Wilton, a "print of the Washington family" is listed under the inventory.  The Randolphs may have purchased a print containing Washington to show their admiration for the then deceased president who had once visited their home. 

Bibliography

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University Press. New Haven, 2000.

Richardson, Edgar P. American Paintings and Related Pictures in the Henry Francis Dupont

Museum. University Press of VA. Charlottsville, 1986.

“Washington and his Family”. New York Times Online Archives. December 30, 1892. 24

August 2012. <http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F40910FB345515738DDDA90B94DA415B8285F0D3>

“Overview of Collection”. The Winterthur Library. 24 August 2012

<http://findingaid.winterthur.org/html/HTML_Finding_Aids/COL0398.htm>

“Mezzotint”. Dictionary.com. 24 August 2012.

<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mezzotint>

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<http://warnockfinearts.com/MezzotintProcess.htm>

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<http://www.npg.org.uk/research/programmes/early-history-of-mezzotint/the-early-

mezzotint.php>