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Peale Painting To Be Part Of Revolutionary War Exhibit
Washington and Lee University will lend its notable portrait of “George Washington as Colonel in the Virginia Regiment” by Charles Willson Peale to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, where it will become a central piece of the upcoming exhibition “Give Me Liberty: Virginia and the Forging of a Nation,” which commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The painting is the first of seven portraits of Washington made from life by Peale and the only portrait of Washington that predates the American Revolution. It was commissioned by Martha Washington and painted in May 1772 at Mount Vernon, where it hung in the front parlor, along with portraits by John Wollaston of Martha and her children.
Organized by the Jamestown- Yorktown Foundation in coordination with the Virginia Museum of History and Culture (VMHC) and the Virginia 250th Commission, “Give Me Liberty” highlights Virginia’s leading role in the American Revolution and the actions of both political leaders and ordinary people to establish a model of democratic government.
As part of the exhibit, the Peale portrait will be on view first at the VMHC in Richmond from March 22 to Jan. 4, 2026, then travel to the American Revolution Museum in Yorktown, where it will be on view from July 1, 2026, to Jan. 31, 2027.
“As stewards of our collection, we are responsible for preserving and sharing it with the general public, and this loan is an extraordinary opportunity for our university to contribute to a significant national commemoration and to allow our iconic painting to reach and inspire hundreds of thousands of visitors,” said Isra El-beshir, director of art museum and galleries at W&L. “This loan aligns with our mission to advance learning through direct engagement with the collection and facilitate an interdisciplinary appreciation of art, history and culture. We are honored to participate in this momentous exhibition and to see our collection serve a wider public.”
The university’s Peale portrait was previously loaned to Mount Vernon in 2018, where it hung in the Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center. The loan was part of a temporary exchange that brought Mount Vernon’s portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, one of the artist’s own replicas of his famous “Athenaeum” version, to W&L. It returned to W&L from Mount Vernon in 2023, and was on display in W&L’s Reeves Museum as part of the exhibit “Parlor Portraits: George and Martha Washington,” until earlier this month.
The current loan of the Peale portrait to the VMHC and American Revolution Museum is temporary, and the portrait will ultimately find its home in W&L’s forthcoming Institutional History Museum.
To learn more about the upcoming exhibition “Give Me Liberty: Virginia and the Forging of a Nation” at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, visit https://virginiahistory.org/ exhibitions/give-me-liberty.
Other Pieces On Loan
“George Washington as Colonel in the Virginia Regiment” is not the only piece from the Museums’ collection to be loaned to partner institutions for important anniversary exhibitions this year.
Peale’s “Portrait of Marquis de Lafayette” from the Museums at W&L collection is currently on view at Mount Vernon and will be loaned to the Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans for their upcoming exhibition, “Bienvenu à Général Lafayette: Commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the Marquis de Lafayette’s Visit to New Orleans.”
The portrait will be one of the great masterpieces of the exhibition, which will run from April 9 to Jan. 18, 2026. This loan will be part of a project supported by the Louisiana chapter of the America 250th Commission.
Also, a pair of 18th-century pistols in the Museums at W&L’s history collection, that descended through the Washington family into the Lee family, will be loaned to the National Museum of the United States Army to include in their special exhibition “Call to Arms: The Soldier and the Revolutionary War,” which commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War. The exhibit will be on view from early June 2025 to June 31, 2027, and will explore the complex early birth of the Army and offer new perspectives on soldiers’ motivations to fight.
