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The Lansdowne portrait is an iconic oil-on-canvas portrait of George Washington, the first...

The Lansdowne portrait is an iconic oil-on-canvas portrait of George Washington, the first President of the United States. The portrait was commissioned in April 1796 by Senator William Bingham of Pennsylvania—one of the wealthiest men in the U.S. at the time—and his wife, Anne. The portrait measures 8 by 5 feet (2.44 by 1.52 m) and was given as a gift of appreciation to William Petty, the second Earl of Shelburne and the first Marquess of Lansdowne. Petty was an American sympathizer who supported independence of the colonies in Parliament. It was completed in the fall of that year by American artist Gilbert Stuart (who made two other portraits of George Washington, and many others of prominent American revolutionaries). The painting shows Washington (then at 64 years old) renouncing a third term as U.S. President. It is currently on permanent display at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. There are also copies on display in the East Room of the White House, the U.S. House Chamber, and the Rayburn room of the Capitol. In 2001, The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation committed $30 million to buy the painting and created a permanent home for it at the National