Oil on canvas landscape painting after John Gadsby Chapman (New York/Italy, 1808-1889) depicting the birthplace of George Washington in Westmoreland County, Virginia. An inlet of the Potomac River divides the site of the Washington family home at Pope's Creek Plantation in the foreground from the Maryland shore and farmyard visible in the distance. A stone marker in the extreme foreground reads: "Here on the 22 February AD 1732 Geo Washington was Born." Housed in a giltwood frame with nameplate. Sight: 17 1/2" H x 23 1/2" W. Frame: 23 1/2" H x 29 1/2" W. Note: This painting is likely an early copy of the engraving after John Gadsby Chapman's painting of the same scene, now in the collection of Mount Vernon. "Chapman painted nine landscapes illustrating locations significant to the life of George Washington. The series begins with the site of Washington's birth at the Pope's Creek Plantation in Westmoreland County, continues through the site of the Battle of Yorktown, and concludes with scenes of Mount Vernon including the bedchamber in which Washington died and the new tomb in which he was interred in 1831. Chapman exhibited seven of these paintings at the National Academy of Design in New York City during the summer of 1835. Later, nine of the paintings were acquired by James Kirke Paulding (1778-1860), the New York author and onetime Secretary of the Navy, who illustrated two of the works in his 1835 biography of George Washington." (Source: Donald W. Reynolds Museum, George Washington's Mount Vernon)

PROVENANCE: Private South Carolina Collection.

CONDITION: Painting in overall good condition, with craquelure throughout. Repair with retouching to the two small buildings at right of barn, 1 3/4" x 1 1/2", plus retouching to cloud directly above farmstead, 3 1/2" x 1 1/2", and to area of mountains above cows, 3/4" x 3/4". Frame abrasions along upper edge of canvas. Frame with abrasions, losses, and loose corners.