y and then popularized in America through work of Stuart and John Trumbull.the beginning of the Federal era, a market emerged for images of the young nation »s leaders. Gilbert Stuart painted more than one hundred portraits ofGeorge Washington <javascript:OpenBrWindow(«images/p5.htm»,«p5»,«resizable=yes,width=225,height=295»)>. American heroes were rarely portrayed with the pomp that surrounded European aristocracy. In keeping with the colonial values ??of self-determination, portraits instead referred to individual accomplishments or suggested the sitter «s symbolic importance to the nation. Rembrandt Peale »sportrait of his brother <javascript:OpenBrWindow(«images/p6.htm»,«p6»,«resizable=yes,width=230,height=295»)> documents Rubens « success with what was reputed to be the first geranium grown in America. The flowers were prized in Europe but difficult to cultivate in the United States. In this light, the work becomes not only an image of the artist »s brother, but a portrait of American self-sufficiency and achievement.served a documentary purpose for early Americans that is fulfilled by the camera today. Miniatures <javascript:OpenBrWindow(«images/p7.htm»,«p7»,«resizable=yes,width=230,height=295»)>, usually only a few inches high, were often the only visual record of loved ones separated by great distances. It was also common for people to commission a posthumous portrait, or mourning picture <javascript:OpenBrWindow(«images/p8.htm»,«p8»,«resizable=yes,width=230,height=305»)>, of a deceased child or other family member. Photography became more accessible during the mid-nineteenth century, leading to a decrease in the demand for painted portraits. Nevertheless, affluent sitters still took pleasure in proclaiming their material comforts with oil and canvas. Thomas Sully «s idealized, elegant images of Philadelphia society <javascript:OpenBrWindow(»images/p9.htm«,»p9«,»resizable=yes,width=225,height=295«)> exemplify the romantic style that was popular well into the 1860s. Although now better known for his genre scenes, Eastman Johnson accepted several portrait commissions, including The Brown Family <javascript:OpenBrWindow(»images/p10.htm«,»p10«,»resizable=yes,width=230,height=255«)>.the closing decades of the nineteenth century the art centers of Europe continued to attract American artists and wealthy patrons. Some American artists preferred to live abroad, where they had greater access to the great public art collections and to recent developments in contemporary art. Mary Cassatt <javascript:OpenBrWindow(»images/p11.htm«,»p11«,»resizable=yes,width=230,height=295«)> spent much of her long career in France, combining her interest in portraiture with the new style of impressionism. John Singer Sargent <javascript:OpenBrWindow(»images/p12.htm«,»p12«,»resizable=yes,width=230,height=295«)> became a very succe...
