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Portrait of George Washington
On January 18, 1779, the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania passed a resolution commissioning a portrait of George Washington for the Council Chamber and selected Charles Willson Peale as the artist. In preparation, Peale traveled to the Princeton and Trenton battlefields in February of 1779 to make sketches for the background. -
Fur Traders Descending the Missouri, 1845 George Caleb Bingham (American, 1811–1879) Oil on canvas
On June 4, 1845, Bingham returned to St. Louis from a winter stay in central Missouri, bringing with him several paintings and many sketches. Fur Traders Descending the Missouri apparently was one of the pictures that he brought with him, and later that year consigned for sale to the American Art-Union. It was first called "French-Trader–Half breed Son," but the Art-Union gave it the title by which it is now known. Bingham, whose earliest efforts were portraits, produced a masterpiece.
