Room for Revolution: George Washington and His Philadelphia Friends
March 16,2007 August 30,2007
Charles Wilson Peale's George Washington at Princeton is on view(展览) at the museum which
was lent from a private collection. This visually striking and finely made life-size portrait(肖像)records
Washington's 6-foot-2-inch figure in a pose highlighting strength, composure(沉着), and elegance
(高雅). It is put up in a room neighboring to the Powel House parlor(客厅), a period room from one
of Philadelphia's greatest eighteenth-century private homes, where Washington was frequently
entertained by his friends, Samuel and Elizabeth Powel. Both spaces contain important examples
of furniture by Philadelphia's finest craftsmen, such as Thomas Affleck and Aitken. Among these is
a side chair specially ordered by the Washingtons when living in Philadelphia.
Painted in Philadelphia in 1779, Peal's painting was immediately sent to Europe to promote
Washington's reputation as a leader and the cause of the American Revolution, then in progress. Later,
during Europe's Napoleonic Wars, a Spanish duke(公爵) with strong sympathies with American
Revolution owned the picture. At that time he added the complicated carved caption(标题) to it,
which describes Washington as "a liberator of his country who abandoned absolute power."
Curators馆长,监护人
American Art Department Staff, website commentary by Carol Soltis
Location位子
Galleries 286 and 287, second floor.
1. This passage is mainly about_____.
A. the information of a portrait on view
B. the cause of the American Revolution
C. the friendship between Washington and his friends
D. the description of the life of George Washington
2. what is the name of the portrait?
A. Charles Wilson Peale.
B. Room for Revolution.
C. George Washington and His Philadelphia friends.
D. George Washington at Princeton
3. what happened in the Powel House parlor?
A. Washington entertained his friends.
B. Washington made a chair on his own.
C. Charles Wilson Peale finished the portrait.
D. Samuel and Elizabeth Powel met Washington a lot.
4. according to the passage, Washington______.
A. lived between 1741 and 1827
B. ordered the portrait painted in 1779
C. was sympathized by a Spanish duke
D. was a great man not greedy for power
5. The passage tell us that _____.
A. when the portrait was finished, America was at war
B. the portrait was originally hanging in Samuel's room
C. the portrait was sent to Europe to gain support from Napoleon
D. the caption of the portrait was carved by Philadelphia’s finest craftsmen.
