The Likeness of
George Washington
Amos Doolittle (1754-1832)
A Display of the United States
of America
Engraving on paper (sixth or seventh state), 1794
Prints and Photographs Division
Gift/Purchase Marian S. Carson, 1996 (226.1)
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Amos Doolittle, an enterprising printer and engraver
in New Haven, Connecticut, exploited the commercial potential
of George Washington's likeness following the 1788 election campaign
-- the country's first -- to create one of the earliest American
presidential political prints. This unusually large and ambitious
print by a native-born, apparently self-taught engraver represents
a significant achievement in American popular printmaking and
marked George Washington's passage from military command to civilian
rule. The engraving proved commercially successful and Doolittle
later created similar engravings portraying John Adams and Thomas
Jefferson.
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