JAMES SHARPLES 1751-1811
Portrait of President George Washington
Pastel, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches

AMES Sharples, who was born in England, first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1779. Twice widowed, Sharples married again in 1787 taking as his third wife, Ellen Wallace, who had been his pupil. The Sharples' came to the United States about 1793, where they worked in Philadelphia and New York until 1801. James Sharples did pastel portraits, which he is said to have executed in about two hours. Ellen Sharples sometimes produced copies of these for clients who wished more than a single example. The Sharples family went back to England in 1801, where James and Ellen continued their work, returning to New York in 1809. James Sharples died there in 1811, whereupon Ellen and the children went back to England for the last time.

It was probably in 1797 at Mount Vernon that James Sharples finally achieved his ambition of portraying George Washington. The resulting portrait proved to be so popular that both ellen and James Sharples are said to have copied the image in response to the demand. The qualitative differences among the more than thirty known versions (which are all but identical) of the Washington portrait are so slight it is virtually impossible to determine which Sharples created a given example. The honor of the life sitting and the sensitive and sympathetic image resulting from it must, however, belong to James Sharples.

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