Earliest known painting of George Washington

This is the youthful George Washington painted in his 40s, in red soldiers waistcoat and pale sash, round his neck he wore a silver officer’s pendant, marked with the British royal coat of arms, painted by the artist Charles Willson Peale. A confident man, accustomed to command, this was the earliest known painting of the country’s first president and the man who would lead the Colonial forces to victory in the Revolutionary War. In it, Washington wears a blue coat, with red facings and silver trim, evidence that he was a provincial soldier, not an officer in the British army he was serving. The famous portrait returned to display at Mount Vernon on Thursday for the first time since 1802.

Washington Post