WASHINGTON'S PORTRAIT
From Knob Knowledge
An intricate needlework copy of John Trumbull's portrait of George Washington hung in the old Coward Dining Hall. While it was on loan to the Smithsonian Institution, in 1978, it appeared in the National Bicentennial Exhibit in Washington, D.C.
Trumbull's painting of Washington which hangs in Charleston City Hall, was his second painting. It was done after the first was rejected as being too militaristic. The first painting now hangs in the Yale Gallery of Fine Arts. The needlework was based on the first painting.
Jeannie Whittemore of Connecticut and her two sisters spent more than a year working on it. For it, Miss Whittemore was presented an award at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. The tapestry is 5 by 7 feet. It is a combination of carefully shaded gros point and cross-stitch. Gold beads embellish the epaulets, watch fob, brass buttons, saber, and horse's harness.
The work was contributed to The Citadel in 1956 by Mrs. Lyman Rhodes of Charleston, whose husband was a nephew of Miss Whittemore.
In 2007, the needlework portrait was relocated from Mark Clark Hall to the storage area in The Citadel Archives & Museum, to make room for the portrait of General Grinalds, President Emeritus. (HN & EC)
