Gilbert Stuart Athenaeum Portrait of Washington to be Auctioned

The Artnewspaper has a short article on an upcoming auction which includes an Athenaeum portrait of Washington by Gilbert Stuart.  The portrait will sell at Cottone Auctions near Rochester, NY on March 27, 2010. The estimate is $200,000/$300,000.  The article states the owner thought it was a copy and recently had it appraised where it was deemed an authentic Stuart.  Within the appraisal process the painting should be authenticated by a Stuart expert but that is not noted. There is family provenance back to the 1860's according to the article.

Jane has written a good article for the 2010 edition of the Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies on the differences between appraising and authentication.  The 2010 edition should be available in April.

The Artnewspaper article is short, so I will take the liberty to post in full.

A portrait of George Washington reportedly by Gilbert Stuart, the most famous portraitist of early American presidents, is going up for auction. The painting hung untouched in the home of an upstate New York family for generations and has been estimated to fetch between $200,000-$300,000 when it goes up for sale 27 March at Cottone Auctions of Geneseo, New York.

The canvas’s owner, Oliver Chanler, says he can trace ownership of the painting back to at least 1860, but he always thought it was a reproduction. Only recently, following his mother’s death, did he have it appraised, and it was deemed an authentic work by Stuart. It is one of about 100 the artist painted after his unfinished portrait of Washington, The Athenaeum, which is reproduced on the one-dollar bill.

According to Matt Cottone of the auction house, the combination of the provenance—the family can trace its background to 19th-century politician John Winthrop Chanler, a descendant of millionaire philanthropist John Jacob Astor—as well as the historical significance of Gilbert Stuart and Washington "makes it an exciting discovery".