American Historical Ephemera and Photography Featuring the Civil War and American Militaria Collection of Bruce B. Hermann

Engraving, [1800], image 332 x 506 mm (355 x 537 mm visible), on wove paper, tear to left edge, a few small holes, crease with possible tear to upper right, matted, not examined out of mat. Hart 285a. 

Gilbert Stuart's iconic portrait of Washington was sent to London in the autumn of 1796 to its new owner, the Marquis of Lansdowne, who gave engraver James Heath permission to engrave it and it was published not long after Washington's death. Heath erroneously credited Stuart as "Gabriel Stuart" and misrecorded the date as "1797." When Stuart discovered Heath's engravings in a Philadelphia shop, he was irate at the loss of income and artistic control. He complained to William Bingham, whom he thought had promised to secure the copyright, and drafted a letter to Lord Lansdowne, however, it was never sent.