Artwork in the Blue Room

While none of the originals owned by Washington have been conclusively identified, the curators located period examples and reproduced these for display in the room. In 1797, the introduction of four gilt-framed fine art prints to the Blue Room made it more than just a room with a view by virtually opening new vistas to far away or mythical lands.

The prints, part of a collection of over 100 that Washington had amassed in Philadelphia, announced his emergence as a collector and a man of taste. At the time, building a collection of prints, skilled reproductions of original art, was a serious pursuit. Contemporary theorists linked the ability to choose and enjoy artwork to the development of one’s moral virtue. Displaying art in good taste testified both to one’s own character and a noble desire to elevate the visiting viewer.

For the Blue Room, Washington chose works that showcased the contemporary artists of the day. The product of innovative techniques and collaborations between artists, engravers, and publishers, these prints offered guests a sampling of the best of the London art world in the late eighteenth century.

The largest prints in the room, (Thomas) Gainsborough’s Forest and (Meindert) Hobima’s Village, reproduced paintings that played on a common theme favored by eighteenth-century collectors: peaceful forest landscapes sprinkled with a diverse array of busy humans. Both artists were indebted to the landscape style of the seventeenth-century Dutch master, Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/9-1682), but opted for a sunnier, lighter tone in their works.