Detail of George Washington (Lansdowne portrait)

Washington as Colonel of the Virginia Regiment by Charles Willson Peale, oil on canvas, 1772 Washington-Custis-Lee Collection, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia

Washington was well aware of the symbolism of personal attire. When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in 1775, he was the only delegate in military uniform, for he wished to demonstrate Virginia’s willingness to aid Massachusetts, already fighting British troops.

Washington’s Inauguration at Independence Hall, 1793 by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, oil on canvas, 1793 National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Behring Center

For a portrait of Washington, who was so frequently painted in military uniform, the depiction in a suit symbolized a switch in his public role from general to President. At his first inauguration in 1789, he had worn a brown suit of broadcloth from Hartford, Connecticut, with eagle-adorned buttons. The attire reflected the complexity of the new idea of an American President. He chose to wear American-made clothing, rather than attire made in Britain. The eagle was a symbol of the new nation. In the Lansdowne portrait, he wears, as a second-term President, a formal black suit more suitable to his station.

King Louis XVI by Charles Clement Balvay Bervic, 1790 The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association

The decision to portray Washington in a formal black suit emphasized his status as a citizen-leader, as opposed to a monarch. Citizens of the new nation, once subjects of a king dressed in royal robes, needed to see that Washington was a different kind of leader. Washington’s plain attire—reflecting his own beliefs about the Presidency—gave his fellow citizens a visual representation of this new form of leadership: one who is elected of, by, and for the people.

George Washington Addressing Congress The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association

As President, on formal occasions, Washington wore a black suit. One of several eyewitness descriptions of his attire comes from Henrietta Liston, wife of the British minister. She described seeing him deliver his last annual address before Congress on December 9, 1796: “The Hall was crowded and a prodigious Mob at the Door, about twelve oClock Washington entered in full dress, as He always is on publick occasion, black velvet, sword, etc.”

Washington’s coat and breeches of brown wool, circa 1793 The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association

In 1763, as a prominent landowner in the British colony of Virginia, Washington naturally turned to a London tailor for a suit. Washington ordered “a genteel suit of Cloaths.” He described himself as “6 feet high and proportionably made; if any thing rather slender than thick for a person of that height with pretty long Arms and thighs.”

Washington as a Farmer at Mount Vernon by Junius Brutus Stearns, oil on canvas, 1851 The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association

As a gentleman planter, Washington wore practical clothes. His adopted son John Parke Custis said Washington while working at Mount Vernon wore “plain drab clothes, a broad-brimmed white hat. . . and carrying an umbrella with a long staff which is attached to his saddle-bow.”

George Washington copied after Gilbert Stuart, attributed to George Graham, circa 1795 National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Stuart may have been relying on his memory, reputedly extraordinary, to paint this aspect of the portrait, but for some reason he makes the two sleeves different. The right sleeve has the smooth close fit that was the fashion of the time, but the left sleeve is too full.

Detail of sleeve in the Lansdowne portrait

In an account of Washington’s appearance before Congress for a State of the Union address, the artist is cited for his accuracy: “Washington was dressed precisely as Stuart has painted him... In a full suit of the richest black velvet...his shirt ruffled at the breast and wrists...” Jane Stuart remarked that her father “amused himself at times by painting lace, showing with a few bold touches of his pencil how easy it is to produce an effect when one understands what he is about.”