James H. Cafferty and Charles G. Rosenberg

The Inauguration of George Washington

Auction Closed

December 11, 04:21 PM GMT

Estimate

150,000 - 250,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

The Passion of American Collectors:

Property of Barbara and Ira Lipman

James H. Cafferty and Charles G. Rosenberg

The Inauguration of George Washington

signed with initials J-C. C-R. (lower left); also indistinctly inscribed Wall Street, 1789/George Wash... (on the stretcher)

oil on canvas

30 by 25 inches

(76.2 by 63.5 cm)

Painted circa 1860s.

Mrs. George Dyer, New Hope, Pennsylvania
Private collection, Greenwich, Connecticut
Private collection, New York, 1984 (gift from the above; sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 22, 2002, lot 150)
Acquired by the present owner at the above sale

(possibly) New York, National Academy of Design, Thirty-fifth Annual Exhibition, April-June 1860, no. 594 (as Wall Street in 1789, Sketch for Large Picture)

America's first President took the oath of office on April 30, 1789 in New York City on the balcony of the Senate Chamber at Federal Hall on Wall Street. The votes had taken over two months to tally, but when they were all counted, General Washington became the first and only United States President to be unanimously elected by the Electoral College. Washington's inauguration was preceded by a nine-day journey to New York from his home in Mount Vernon, Virginia, and in each town along the way the president-elect was greeted with crowds and ceremony. Inauguration Day began with the ringing of church bells across the city followed by a full ceremonial procession to Federal Hall, during which Washington was escorted by a military contingent of 500 soldiers; the day ended with the citizens of New York celebrating in the streets while fireworks exploded overhead.

Exhibition records from the National Academy of Design and The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts show that both James H. Cafferty and Charles G. Rosenbeg were active in New York during the middle of the 19th century and that they completed at least one other collaborative work, Wall Street, Half Past 2'O'Clock, October 13, 1857 (Museum of the City of New York, New York).