George Washington portrait up for auction in Geneseo
For years, the painting hung in a side alcove of Oliver Chanler’s parents’ library in Geneseo. Chanler never thought much about its origins then, nor did he think much of it when, years later, his mother finally took it down and moved it to the front hallway of her new home.
George Washington was always “just there,” he said.
But when his mother died 10 years ago, appraisers came to value her estate, and they identified the canvas: an original painting of the first president of the United States, drawn by Washington’s most famous portraitist, Gilbert Stuart.
“I thought it was probably a copy and that there were probably lots of them,” said Chanler. “But it wasn’t a copy. It was the real thing.”
The 65-year-old now lives in his mother’s old Geneseo home, near the site of Sweet Briar farm, where his grandfather resided for much of his life. But he pays a lot of taxes on the property, so he recently decided to sell the Washington portrait. It will be auctioned by Cottone Auctions of Geneseo on March 27.
“It’s not like it’s a painting of an ancestor,” said Chanler, who said he hoped that it would be purchased by a museum.
The painting is expected to fetch between $200,000 and $300,000, said Sam Cottone, the auction house’s owner. It is particularly valuable because the painting has not been altered in any way since it was first painted.
“No restoration, no cleaning, nothing,” said Chanler.
“I would suspect that’s because no one thought it was of great value.”
Cottone, who has been in the business for 30 years, never doubted the painting’s authenticity, noting that the canvas, stretcher, and frame that all fit with the time period, and a few of Stuart’s artistic trademarks, including light wisps of hair across the subject’s face and a darkening around the mouth, are present.
He also said that Chanler’s family history — he is the great-great-great-great-grandson of John Jacob Astor, the United States’ first multimillionaire — added to the painting’s credibility.
While it is possible that Astor was the original owner of the painting, Chanler can only definitively trace his family’s ownership to his great-grandfather, John Winthrop Chanler.
“Prior to that, there’s all kinds of possibilities,” said Chanler.
John Winthrop Chanler, who served in the House of Representatives from 1863 to 1869, was an art collector of sorts, and could have acquired it in any number of ways, one of which could have been through his wife, Margaret Astor Ward, the great-granddaughter of Astor.
Astor also had his portrait painted by Stuart, who was the premier portraitist of the era. Other Stuart subjects include presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe, and King George III of Great Britain.
Stuart was most famous for his Washington portraits, however. His 1796 painting, sometimes referred to as The Athenaeum Portrait, is the image of Washington that is used on the $1 bill.
As for Chanler’s painting, whether Washington was actually seated on the other side of the canvas when the portrait was painted is in question.
When Washington commissioned Stuart for a full-length portrait, he supposedly completed the painting, but then told Washington that it wasn’t finished, said Peggy O’Connor, executive director of the Gilbert Stuart Birthplace and Museum in Saunders-town, Rhode Island.
“In the meantime, he’d set it up in his studio and would do another one from the waist up, and sell it for $100,” said O’Connor. “He did this again and again and again. He did it 130 times and the one person who never got a copy was George Washington.”
Regardless, O’Connor thought that the painting would be highly valued, especially given its pristine condition. Because the portrait is of Washington, it could have a dual market, as both private art collectors and American history buffs could have interest.
“It’s not just what’s the most expensive, it’s the connection,” said Cottone. “This is the founding of our country by one of the most important painters of the time. This is Americana.”
SDOBBIN@DemocratandChronicle.com
