Charles Willson Peale painted George Washington more times from life than any other artist. In 1772 Peale visited Washington's home, Mount Vernon, to portray the hero as a colonel of the Virginia regiment, his only pre-Revolutionary likeness. In 1795 Peale and other members of his family painted the president for the last time during his second term. Overall, Peale had seven opportunities to paint the great man at different times in his career, and he replicated many of the paintings. None were as popular as the enduring image of Washington after the Battle of Princeton, commissioned by the Supreme Executive. Pennsylvania Council for its council chamber in Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The original, now owned by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, was completed in early 1779, when Washington sat for Peale in Philadelphia. An immediate success, which precipitated a great demand for replicas. Of the estimated 18 replicas, the superlative Senate picture is the first recorded one made by Peale, although there was a notice published at the same time that five replicas had been ordered as early as February 1779. The Senate picture was purchased from the artist by the French ambassador Conrad-Alexandre Gerard, probably on behalf of Louis XVI, and paid by promissory note on 15 July 1779. The ambassador, who posed for Peale for his own portrait in September, took Washington's painting to France shortly thereafter. and presented him to the king. This scenario is confirmed in a letter from Peale, dated 15 October 1779, to Edmund Jenings in Brussels. Peale sent Jenings a miniature portrait of Washington, with the observation that “The likeness is something other than His Excellency Sieur… middle of paper… any replica Peale could produce. In August 1779 the artist wrote: “I have at hand a series of portraits of General Washington. One was made by the ambassador for the court of France, another was made for the court of Spain, another was sent to the island of Cuba, and several others, which I have at hand, are for private gentlemen . [5] Versions vary in size and composition, with the background and treatment of Washington's figure altered by Peale. Changes included replacing the soldiers and horses with a bleak winter landscape, updating the general's insignia according to the most recently issued orders, and giving greater prominence to the colonial flag. Other complete versions by Charles Willson Peale are located at Princeton University in New Jersey, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Colonial Williamsburg and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.