Description
The painting The Skater, also known as "Washington the Skater," by Gilbert Stuart, is regarded as one of the most iconic and popular works in United States art history. The work depicts George Washington, the first President of the United States, skating on the frozen Delaware River during the winter of 1776.
What is interesting about this painting is that, although it has become a patriotic symbol in the United States, it is actually a fictional portrait. Stuart never saw Washington skating on ice; the scene is an artistic invention. Stuart painted it in 1817, many years after Washington's death, and used his famous portrait of Washington as the model for the figure on the ice.
No painting announces Gilbert Stuart's coming of age as a portraitist more decisively than this one. Stuart exhibited the work at the Royal Academy exhibition of 1782, thereby formally signaling his artistic maturity.
The Skater ranks No. 72 on the list of famous paintings