BECK, George Jacob (1748-1812), Georgetown and the City of Washington
George Jacob Beck (1748-1812) Georgetown and the City of Washington Gouache and watercolor on paper in gold-leaf frame c. 1795-1797 15 3/4” x 20 1/2” visible, 24” x 29” framed Provenance: Private collection, Philadelphia, PA; Dr. & Mrs. Irving Leavitt, Detroit, MI; Kennedy Galleries, New York, NY; Admiral & Mrs. E. P. Moore, Washington D.C.; Sotheby’s, September 26, 2008. Exhibited: Washington on the Potomac, Washington D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art, February 20-April 3, 1982, Illustrated on p. 2; A Nation Emerges, Washington D.C., Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, June 15, 2012 - January 27, 2013; Nature’s Nation: American Art and Environment, Princeton University Art Museum - October 13, 2018 - January 6, 2019; Peabody Essex Museum - February 2, 2019 - May 5, 2019; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art - May 25, 2019 - September 9, 2019. George Jacob Beck’s incredibly rare watercolor Georgetown and the City of Washington is the first view of the area. Beck completed this work at approximately the same time as those commissioned by President George Washington in 1796 for his home in Mount Vernon. This composition appears to be a companion in style and subject of Washington’s The Potomac River Breaking through the Blue Ridge and Great Falls of the Potomac, both circa 1796-1797, combining topographical detail with a romantic atmosphere. The artist composed this view from above Georgetown on the district side and shows Analostan Island (the former designation for Theodore Roosevelt Island) in the Potomac River, with Georgetown in the background on the left. Beck’s careful attention to light lends an ethereal quality to his landscapes, embuing them with a grandeur reminiscent of European estate views. The figures in the foreground are bathed in the last light of dusk while the creeping shadows blot out the trees in the foreground. This work served as the original drawing for the exceedingly rare aquatint Georgetown and Federal City, or City of Washington published in 1801 by Atkins and Nightengale, as well as for the decoration on Staffordshire china. Georgetown, which had been established in 1751 when the Maryland Legislature purchased sixty acres of land for the town during the reign of George II of Great Britain, was situated on the fall line - the farthest point upstream to which oceangoing boats could navigate the Potomac River. Georgetown eventually became a thriving port, facilitating trade and shipments of tobacco and other goods from colonial Maryland.