William D. Washington
Encyclopedia
William D. Washington was an American
painter
and teacher of art
. He is most famous for his painting The Burial of Latané, which became a symbol of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy
in the years following the American Civil War
, and for the work he did in establishing the fine arts program of the Virginia Military Institute
.
, the child of Perrin Washington and Hannah Fairfax Whiting, and was a descendant of Warner Washington, a first cousin of George Washington
. His father secured a job with the United States Post Office in Washington, D.C.
, and his family moved to that town in 1834. The younger Washington began his own career at the Patent Office, working there for some years as a draughtsman
. He studied painting with Emmanuel Leutze during his time in Washington, working with the elder painter between 1851 and 1852. He also pursued further study in Düsseldorf
, also with Leutze. Eastman Johnson
was in his second year at the Academy there when Washington arrived, and it has been speculated on the basis of style that the two may have worked together in some capacity, possibly going on trips along with Leutze, who traveled frequently. In any event, Washington's style is closer to Johnson's than to that of his teacher, although the exact nature of their relationship remains unclear.
While working at the Patent Office, in 1855, Washington drew an unauthorized copy of Emmanuel Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware
in colored crayon on the wall of a basement room in the building. The office messenger saw it and was preparing to whitewash
over it when one of Washington's superiors, William Langdon, praised it; soon the Commissioner of the Patent Office took note, and brought President
Franklin Pierce
and his Secretary of the Interior
, Robert McClelland
, to view the picture. So impressed were they that the president returned on the following day, bringing with him his wife
and another lady. What became of the picture is unknown, although it was recorded as having been still in place as late as October 1856.
Returning to the District in 1854, Washington remained there until 1861. He had some success as a painter of portrait
s and history painting
s, and exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
and the National Academy of Design
and with the Washington Art Association. He served as a staff officer for brief stretches during the Civil War, under the command of John B. Floyd
; while on duty he completed a number of sketches
of mountain and battle scenes, some of which he would later translate into finished canvases. Ill health kept him in Richmond
for the duration of the war, however, and it was during this time that he created two of his most important paintings, The Burial of Latané and Jackson
Entering Winchester
. He was in England
between 1865 and 1866; returning to the United States, he settled in New York City
, operating a studio
there from 1866 until 1869. In July of the latter year, Washington accepted a teaching post at the Virginia Military Institute
, where he would remain until his death some eighteen months later.
During his short time in Lexington
, Washington managed to achieve a great deal. He was commissioned to paint posthumous portraits of alumni and faculty who had died in battle during the Civil War. Among the subjects he so commemorated were:
He also contributed a portrait of the then-still-living Robert E. Lee
to the gallery. The artist had not known any of these men personally, and thus had to rely on photograph
s and descriptions from their colleagues to complete their likenesses. Many of Washington's portraits are still on display in Preston Library on the VMI campus. Also in the Institute's collections are a number of landscape
s and genre painting
s he completed after poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
. Washington was also active in promoting the Institute's cultural life; he founded an art gallery on campus, for which he secured funding from William Wilson Corcoran
, and taught fine arts to those students who desired such instruction. Among his pupils was Richard Norris Brooke.
Washington remained at Lexington for only eighteen months; never in good health, he died suddenly on December 2, 1870. He was the first member of the Institute's faculty to die in office, and was greatly mourned across the campus. Washington was interred in the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery in Lexington; studies were suspended as a mark of honor until after his burial, and a battalion of cadets escorted the coffin to the grave during the funeral.
Most of Washington's surviving paintings are held at VMI, but a few have made their way into a number of museum collections, including those of the Morris Museum of Art
and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
; in addition, a portrait of John Marshall
, which he painted for the Fauquier County
Courthouse in Warrenton, Virginia
, is still hanging there today. Prints of The Burial of Latané were also popular, and some may still be found in various collections.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and teacher of art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
. He is most famous for his painting The Burial of Latané, which became a symbol of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy
Lost Cause of the Confederacy
The Lost Cause is the name commonly given to an American literary and intellectual movement that sought to reconcile the traditional white society of the U.S. South to the defeat of the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War of 1861–1865...
in the years following the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, and for the work he did in establishing the fine arts program of the Virginia Military Institute
Virginia Military Institute
The Virginia Military Institute , located in Lexington, Virginia, is the oldest state-supported military college and one of six senior military colleges in the United States. Unlike any other military college in the United States—and in keeping with its founding principles—all VMI students are...
.
Biography
Washington was born in Clarke County, VirginiaClarke County, Virginia
Clarke County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the population was 14,034. Its county seat is Berryville.-History:Clarke County was established in 1836 by Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron who built a home, Greenway Court, on part of his 5 million acre property,...
, the child of Perrin Washington and Hannah Fairfax Whiting, and was a descendant of Warner Washington, a first cousin of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
. His father secured a job with the United States Post Office in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and his family moved to that town in 1834. The younger Washington began his own career at the Patent Office, working there for some years as a draughtsman
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
. He studied painting with Emmanuel Leutze during his time in Washington, working with the elder painter between 1851 and 1852. He also pursued further study in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, also with Leutze. Eastman Johnson
Eastman Johnson
Eastman Johnson was an American painter, and Co-Founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, with his name inscribed at its entrance...
was in his second year at the Academy there when Washington arrived, and it has been speculated on the basis of style that the two may have worked together in some capacity, possibly going on trips along with Leutze, who traveled frequently. In any event, Washington's style is closer to Johnson's than to that of his teacher, although the exact nature of their relationship remains unclear.
While working at the Patent Office, in 1855, Washington drew an unauthorized copy of Emmanuel Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware
Washington Crossing the Delaware
Washington Crossing the Delaware is an 1851 oil-on-canvas painting by German American artist Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze. It commemorates General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River on December 25, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War...
in colored crayon on the wall of a basement room in the building. The office messenger saw it and was preparing to whitewash
Whitewash
Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a very low-cost type of paint made from slaked lime and chalk . Various other additives are also used...
over it when one of Washington's superiors, William Langdon, praised it; soon the Commissioner of the Patent Office took note, and brought President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States and is the only President from New Hampshire. Pierce was a Democrat and a "doughface" who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Pierce took part in the Mexican-American War and became a brigadier general in the Army...
and his Secretary of the Interior
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native...
, Robert McClelland
Robert McClelland (American politician)
Robert McClelland was a U.S. statesman, serving as U.S. Representative from Michigan, the ninth Governor of Michigan, and United States Secretary of the Interior.-Early life in Pennsylvania:...
, to view the picture. So impressed were they that the president returned on the following day, bringing with him his wife
Jane Pierce
Jane Means Appleton Pierce , wife of U.S. President Franklin Pierce, was First Lady of the United States from 1853 to 1857....
and another lady. What became of the picture is unknown, although it was recorded as having been still in place as late as October 1856.
Returning to the District in 1854, Washington remained there until 1861. He had some success as a painter of portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
s and history painting
History painting
History painting is a genre in painting defined by subject matter rather than an artistic style, depicting a moment in a narrative story, rather than a static subject such as a portrait...
s, and exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is a museum and art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1805 and is the oldest art museum and school in the United States. The academy's museum is internationally known for its collections of 19th and 20th century American paintings,...
and the National Academy of Design
National Academy of Design
The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...
and with the Washington Art Association. He served as a staff officer for brief stretches during the Civil War, under the command of John B. Floyd
John B. Floyd
John Buchanan Floyd was the 31st Governor of Virginia, U.S. Secretary of War, and the Confederate general in the American Civil War who lost the crucial Battle of Fort Donelson.-Early life:...
; while on duty he completed a number of sketches
Sketch (drawing)
A sketch is a rapidly executed freehand drawing that is not usually intended as a finished work...
of mountain and battle scenes, some of which he would later translate into finished canvases. Ill health kept him in Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
for the duration of the war, however, and it was during this time that he created two of his most important paintings, The Burial of Latané and Jackson
Stonewall Jackson
ຄຽשת״ׇׂׂׂׂ֣|birth_place= Clarksburg, Virginia |death_place=Guinea Station, Virginia|placeofburial=Stonewall Jackson Memorial CemeteryLexington, Virginia|placeofburial_label= Place of burial|image=...
Entering Winchester
Winchester, Virginia
Winchester is an independent city located in the northwestern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the USA. The city's population was 26,203 according to the 2010 Census...
. He was in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
between 1865 and 1866; returning to the United States, he settled in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, operating a studio
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
there from 1866 until 1869. In July of the latter year, Washington accepted a teaching post at the Virginia Military Institute
Virginia Military Institute
The Virginia Military Institute , located in Lexington, Virginia, is the oldest state-supported military college and one of six senior military colleges in the United States. Unlike any other military college in the United States—and in keeping with its founding principles—all VMI students are...
, where he would remain until his death some eighteen months later.
Virginia Military Institute
Lexington, Virginia
Lexington is an independent city within the confines of Rockbridge County in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 7,042 in 2010. Lexington is about 55 minutes east of the West Virginia border and is about 50 miles north of Roanoke, Virginia. It was first settled in 1777.It is home to...
, Washington managed to achieve a great deal. He was commissioned to paint posthumous portraits of alumni and faculty who had died in battle during the Civil War. Among the subjects he so commemorated were:
- George Patton
- Tazewell Patton
- Robert E. RodesRobert E. RodesRobert Emmett Rodes was a railroad civil engineer and a promising young Confederate general in the American Civil War, killed in battle in the Shenandoah Valley.-Education, antebellum career:...
- Stonewall JacksonStonewall Jacksonຄຽשת״ׇׂׂׂׂ֣|birth_place= Clarksburg, Virginia |death_place=Guinea Station, Virginia|placeofburial=Stonewall Jackson Memorial CemeteryLexington, Virginia|placeofburial_label= Place of burial|image=...
- J.E.B. StuartJ.E.B. StuartJames Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart was a U.S. Army officer from Virginia and a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb", from the initials of his given names. Stuart was a cavalry commander known for his mastery of reconnaissance and the use...
- Joseph W. LatimerJoseph W. LatimerJoseph White Latimer , "The Boy Major," was a promising young officer in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's artillery branch during the American Civil War. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg....
- Samuel Garland
He also contributed a portrait of the then-still-living Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
to the gallery. The artist had not known any of these men personally, and thus had to rely on photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
s and descriptions from their colleagues to complete their likenesses. Many of Washington's portraits are still on display in Preston Library on the VMI campus. Also in the Institute's collections are a number of landscape
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
s and genre painting
Genre painting
Genre works, also called genre scenes or genre views, are pictorial representations in any of various media that represent scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, and street scenes. Such representations may be realistic, imagined, or...
s he completed after poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....
. Washington was also active in promoting the Institute's cultural life; he founded an art gallery on campus, for which he secured funding from William Wilson Corcoran
William Wilson Corcoran
William Wilson Corcoran was an American banker, philanthropist, and art collector.-Early life:Corcoran was born in Georgetown in the District of Columbia, the son of a well-to-do father whom the electors of Georgetown twice chose as mayor. His father, Thomas Corcoran, came to Georgetown in 1788...
, and taught fine arts to those students who desired such instruction. Among his pupils was Richard Norris Brooke.
Washington remained at Lexington for only eighteen months; never in good health, he died suddenly on December 2, 1870. He was the first member of the Institute's faculty to die in office, and was greatly mourned across the campus. Washington was interred in the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery in Lexington; studies were suspended as a mark of honor until after his burial, and a battalion of cadets escorted the coffin to the grave during the funeral.
Most of Washington's surviving paintings are held at VMI, but a few have made their way into a number of museum collections, including those of the Morris Museum of Art
Morris Museum of Art
The Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia was established in 1985 as a non-profit foundation by William S. Morris III, in memory of his parents, as the first museum dedicated to the collection and exhibition of art and artists of the American South....
and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
The Virginia Museum of Fine arts, or VMFA, is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, in the United States, which opened in 1936.The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia, while private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the support of specific programs and all...
; in addition, a portrait of John Marshall
John Marshall
John Marshall was the Chief Justice of the United States whose court opinions helped lay the basis for American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches...
, which he painted for the Fauquier County
Fauquier County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 55,139 people, 19,842 households, and 15,139 families residing in the county. The population density was 85 people per square mile . There were 21,046 housing units at an average density of 32 per square mile...
Courthouse in Warrenton, Virginia
Warrenton, Virginia
Warrenton is a town in Fauquier County, Virginia, United States. The population was 6,670 at the 2000 census, and 14,634 at the 2010 estimate. It is the county seat of Fauquier County. Public schools in the town include Fauquier High School, Warrenton Middle School, Taylor Middle School and two...
, is still hanging there today. Prints of The Burial of Latané were also popular, and some may still be found in various collections.