Portrait Fetches Record Sum At Auction

Charles Willson Peale's full-length portrait of George Washington on the American Revolutionary War battlefield fetched $21.3 million at auction Saturday, setting a world record for the sale of an American portrait, Christie's auction house said.

"George Washington at Princeton," signed and dated 1779 by the Revolutionary period's premier portrait artist, was one of eight full-length portraits of Washington painted by Peale between 1779 and 1781.

It was the only one known to be in private hands; other versions of the iconic portrait are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at museums in Philadelphia and Williamsburg, Virginia.

Art dealer C.L. Prickett purchased the painting. The auction house had said earlier it was expected to fetch $10 million to $15 million.

The portrait was offered as part of a collection of American furniture and arts from Natalie Knowlton Blair, a collector of Americana who died in 1951.

The entire collection — including a 1729 chest of drawers by Robert Crosman, which sold for $2.6 million, and an 18th-century Queen Anne mahogany card table — sold for $32.3 million, setting a record for an Americana collection, Christie's said.

The 8-foot-tall Peale painting depicts Washington as commander of the Continental Army, standing on the battlefield to celebrate victories at Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey. It was sent by the artist to Spain after he painted it to promote the American cause abroad. Blair and her husband, banker J. Insley Blair, bought the painting in 1919.

The sale price more than doubled the previous auction record for an American portrait, also one of Washington. Sotheby's sold a half-length portrait by Gilbert Stuart in November for $8.1 million.