New York City Commissions a Portrait of George Washington by John Trumbull

Autograph Letter Signed, to Tobias Lear, July 19, 1790, New York, NY. 1 p., 7 7/8 x 12 1/8 in. In this letter, New York City Mayor Richard Varick requests an opportunity to convey a request from the city to President George Washington to have artist John Trumbull prepare a portrait of him for display at City Hall. Complete Transcript New York July 19th 1790.Dear Sir The Corporation of this City have this Day resolved to request the Favor of the President of the United States to permit Mr Trumbull to take his picture to be placed in the Hall as a Monument of the Respect of the Inhabitants of this City for him. I am directed to communicate this Request in person and will be obliged to You to be informed at what Time it will be agreeable to the presidt to be waited on. I am with Respect Dr Sir / Your Obedt Serv Richd VarickTobias Lear EsquireSecretary to the Presidt of the United States.Historical BackgroundOn July 19, 1790, the Common Council of New York City passed a resolution to request that President George Washington permit John Trumbull (1756-1843) to paint a portrait of him, and directed Mayor Richard Varick, a former personal secretary to General Washington, to make the arrangements. Varick wrote this letter the same day to his former fellow secretary, Tobias Lear, who continued as Washington's personal secretary throughout his presidency.Lear responded the same day, "In compliance with your request signified in your polite letter, I have the honor to inform you that the President of the United States will have the pleasure to see you tomorrow at 10 O'clock, if that hour should be convenient & agreeable to you."[1] The following day, Varick met with the president to present the city's official request, which read, "Resolved that the President of the United States be requested to permit Mr Trumbull to take his portrait to be placed in the City Hall as a monument of the respect which the Inhabitants of this City bear towards him."[2]On July 21, Varick informed Vice President Adams that the City had requested of Washington "to permit Colo. John Trumbull take his portrait to be placed in the City Hall, to which the President has consented & Mr. Trumbull has suggested to me that as the portrait will be large the Room in the Hall in which those of the King and Queen of France are placed will be most desirable to perform the Painting in & that he will take Care that no Possible Injury or Inconvenience shall be occasioned by this Indulgence to him." Because the whole Hall was "devoted to the Use of Congress," Varick wrote to Adams, "as well as the Speaker of the House of Representatives on the Subject" to seek their permission, "under a persuasion that your respective Assent will be sufficient, without troubling the Senate or House of Representatives."[3]Washington had already sat for Trumbull several times in late 1789 and early 1790. Like Varick and Lear, Trumbull was also a former aide to Washington and had completed a full-length portrait of his former commander-in-chief, Washington at Verplanck's Point, which he had given to Martha Washington as a gift. The background scene in that portrait is Washington's September 1782 review of the Continental Army, performed as an honor for departing French commander Comte de Rochambeau and his army.When Trumbull began the new portrait for New York City, entitled George Washington, which now hangs in the Governor's Room of New York City Hall, he worked from the earlier painting and scaled it up from roughly 20 by 30 inches to nearly four times the size at 72 by 108 inches. Trumbull also changed the background scene to an idealized version of Evacuation Day, November 25, 1783, when the British departed New York City at the end of the Revolutionary War.In late July 1790, when the painting was finished, a delegation of Creek chiefs visited New York City, and President Washington wanted them to see the painting. Trumbull described the scene in his autob. (See website for full description).…