William D. Washington (1833-1870), artist of the South
Date
1968
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
William Dickinson Washington was a capable Southern artist who was active during the third quarter of the nineteenth century. But he stayed in the Confederacy during the Civil War and continued to paint; as a result he was neglected in contemporary Northern publications after the war, and, therefore forfeited his proper place in the history of art in the United States. ☐ From the beginning his career held bright promise. He had the best social and family connections, being descended from Warner Washington, a first cousin of George Washington. He had the finest professional training at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art, studying painting and fine arts with the eminent Emmanuel Leutze. At eighteen, after several years in Europe, he returned to open a portrait studio in Washington. At nineteen, he helped to found the Washington Art Association and became its first vice-president and exhibited in Baltimore and Philadelphia, as well as in Washington. He was alleged to have served in southwestern Virginia as a member of the staff of General G. C. Wharton and was with the cadets of the Virginia Military Institute at New Market. However, according to General Francis H. Smith, Superintendent of Virginia Military Institute, in his Resolution in the minutes of the Academic Board, December 2, 1870, stated that the artist served on the staff of Major General John Floyd, although infirmity kept him in Richmond during the greater part of the war. In fact, he painted some of his paintings there, including his best known work, “The Burial of Latané.” Inspired by historical fact and a beautiful poem by John Thompson, Washington used socially prominent Richmond belles to depict the sad scene: a matron reading the burial service at the graveside of a fallen Confederate officer, attended by four young women, two children and four slaves. ☐ After the war, Washington went to Europe. Upon his return he opened a studio in New York City and exhibited in National Academy of Design Shows in 1866, 1868, and 1869 and in 1868 in exhibits in Philadelphia and Baltimore. In July 1869 he became Virginia’s first artist in residence with the Chair of Fine Arts established for him at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington by William W. Corcoran, the great patron of the arts. Before his death from chronic disease after a rapid and brief illness on December 1, 1870, Washington succeeded in completing more than fifteen portraits of distinguished alumni and other works for the Institute’s Corcoran Gallery of Pictures. Active to the end, the artist was engaged in making a large historic painting entitled “General Smith Addressing the Faculty in Regard to Restoration of the Institution, 1865,” derived from a sketch that was inspired by a description of the event. Only a fortnight before he died, Washington had been visiting in Richmond, where he was painting the portraits of Governor Gilbert C. Walker and his wife. The death of this talented artis of thirty-seven was mourned as a loss to his native state.