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President George Washington


George Washington (1732-1799) was the first president of the United States, founder and national hero revered by both the North and the South during the American Civil War. His formal education was limited, but he learned through research and served in the war against the French and the Indians with the Virginia militia under the command of General Edward Braddock of the British Army. He rose to the rank of colonel and was the most logical choice for the command of the Continental Army in the American War of Independence. Washington wanted to return to private life after the war, but was seconded to chair the convention that drafted the United States Constitution. He then served two terms as president and opened a powerful precedent upon his retirement in 1787, when he returned to his home in the town of Mount Vernon. Washington died before the invention of photography, but many of his portraits were painted throughout his life. The image is from a photographic album, mostly from the Civil War period, recorded by famous American photographer Matthew Brady (circa 1823 to 1896), which belonged to Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (1825-1891), a collector of Photographs and himself a photographer. The album was a gift given to the emperor by Edward Anthony (1818-188😎, one of the first American photographers who, in partnership with his brother, became owner of a leading photographic materials sales company in the United States in the 1850s Dom Pedro II may have acquired the album during a trip to the United States in 1876, when he inaugurated the Centennial Exposition of Philadelphia alongside American President Ulysses S. Grant. Brady was born in northern New York and was the son of immigrants from Ireland. Long known for photographs documenting the battles of the American Civil War, he began his career in 1844 when he opened a daguerreotype portrait studio on the corner of Broadway Street and Fulton Street in New York City. Over the ensuing decades, Brady produced portraits of leading American public figures, many of whom were published as prints in magazines and newspapers. In 1858, he opened a branch in Washington, DC. The album, which also contains a small number of non-photographic prints, is part of the Collection D. Thereza Christina Maria, from the National Library of Brazil. The collection consists of 21,742 photographs gathered by the emperor Dom Pedro II throughout his life, and donated by him to the National Library. The collection also covers a wide range of subjects, documenting the achievements of Brazil and Brazilians in the 19th century and including many photographs from Europe, Africa and North America.