Madrid's San Fernando Academy Shows Rare George Washington Portrait

To mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid is exhibiting one of the few portraits of George Washington outside the US. The exhibition, titled 'La Huella Estadounidense en Madrid: El retrato de George Washington', is part of an initiative by the US Embassy in Spain and runs until December 30, 2026, in Room 14 of the Academy's museum at Calle Alcalá 13. The centerpiece is a 1796 oil painting by Italian artist Josef Perovani (1765-1835), measuring 220 x 145 cm, which depicts the first US president. The portrait was commissioned by Spanish diplomat Josef de Jáudenes as a gift for Manuel Godoy, Secretary of State under King Carlos IV, following the negotiation of the Treaty of San Lorenzo (1795), signed in El Escorial by Thomas Pinckney and Godoy. Perovani based the composition on Gilbert Stuart's 'Lansdowne' portrait, but the head was likely inspired by Charles W. Peale's 1795 bust portrait. The painting, part of Godoy's collection, entered the Academy in 1816 after Ferdinand VII confiscated his assets. The exhibition also includes Goya's 1801 portrait of Godoy as a general and Mariano Salvador Maella's portrait of Carlos IV as Prince of Asturias.