George Washington — The Continental General

In June 1775 the Continental Congress needed a general for an army it did not yet have. It chose a Virginia planter of forty-three whose last command had been a provincial regiment in the French and Indian War. Washington accepted, asked for no pay beyond expenses, and told Congress he did not think himself equal to the job.

He held it for eight and a half years. He lost New York, won back New Jersey, lost Philadelphia, came through Valley Forge and Monmouth, and marched to Yorktown. Through mutinies, empty treasuries and a Congress that could not feed its soldiers, the army never dissolved.

The portrait shows him as his officers knew him — buff and blue, hat under his arm, the tents of his army at his back. In December 1783 he handed the commission back and went home.

He fills the frame the way he filled a room — boots planted, weight slightly forward. The painter keeps to three notes: the deep blue of the coat, the buff of waistcoat and breeches, and the pewter sky that takes up the top half of the picture.

Behind him, small and busy, is the reason for the pose: canvas tents, a line of infantry, a red flag at the far right. He is not looking at them. He is looking at whatever comes next.