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Eugenia Shankland (American 1871 - 1896) George Washington Patriae Pater - 1891, Copy After Rembrandt Peale 1824
Oil on canvas, 69 x 52 inches / signed verso
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- Available for purchase
- Professionally conserved and framed
- Competitively Priced $80,000
- Custom framing available
- Available for purchase
- Professionally conserved and framed
- Competitively Priced $80,000
- Custom framing available
Eugenia (Miss Genie) Shankland was once described as a beautiful child with dark eyes, pale
intellectual face, and dark curly hair, whose face as a mature woman, retained all the amiable
and sweet countenance of the little artist girl -- a child who, as a teenager, would become most
famous for her portraits of George Washington. [3]
Eugenia Shankland was born in Washington, D. C. circa 1871. The eldest daughter of Manning R.
Shankland, who had come to Washington from Philadelphia c. 1860 with John W. Forney, then
a member of the House. Forney appointed Shankland to a clerkship and when Forney became
secretary of the Senate, Mr. Shankland was given an appointment in the Senate secretary’s
office, a position he held until his death in 1896. [1, 2]
As a child, Eugenia, although lame, played around the capitol grounds and made sketches. She
also liked studying the paintings in the Capitol. However, it was Rembrandt Peale’s portrait of
George Wasington, that hung in the Vice President’s room at the Capitol that fascinated her the
most. She would later say that “I often wish I could have known the artist who conceived that
idea of Washington. Studying it so continually I have become very fond of that head. To me it
has such a dignity, such power and withal such tenderness as no other picture of Washington
reveals. The mouth is the most powerful feature to me.” [3, 4]
The Shanklands lived near the capitol and near Senator Ingalls (Senate Pro Tempore, 1887-91).
Eugenia presented the Senator with a pen-and-ink sketch of his daughter and they became
friends. Circa 1891 after a bit of wrangling with her parents, they allowed her to take art study
at the Corcoran Art Gallery. She was found to be gifted and after only four months was put into
the life class. She studied there for only another two months. [3, 5]
Visitors to the Corcoran gallery would see the young student diligently at work at her easel
copying paintings. Judge Watson of Brooklyn, New York was visiting, saw her at work and
bought a painting – her first sale! And she continued to make sales from her copies. However,
the lure of Peale’s Wasington persisted and Eugenia so wished to be able paint a copy of it. The
painting was so fragile that it could not be taken down from the wall – It was badly cracked and
was peeling from the canvas. So, her new friend, Senator Ingalls, in the Vice-President’s
absence, allowed her to set up her easel and paints in his office. When the Vice-President
returned, he allowed her to continue to paint there. [3, 4]
Originally, it was Eugenia’s intent to make a copy only for herself; however, her presence and
what she was doing soon came to the notice of visitors. Senator Stockbridge (Michigan) bought
it before it was completed; Senator Edmunds (Vermont) and Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate
Colonel Valentine (Nebraska) wanted a copy too. Vice-President Morton also wanted a copy.
Apparently, they wanted a copy before the original painting was too far gone. [3, 4]
Eugenia had wanted to go to Europe for study; instead, she spent all that summer making
copies of Washington, but not unhappily. The young artist was known around Washington and
older artists who privately recognized her genius for portraiture and color had advised her to
“wait until her own individuality is developed thoroughly before going abroad to study.”
Nevertheless, Vice President Morton sent her to genre painter Daniel Huntington in New York
City for study. She was only there for a short time before Huntington sent her home, saying that
her “genius for color” required no teaching and that it was practice, not instruction, that she
needed. [3, 4]
Prior to Eugenia’s copy, Peale’s Portrait of Washington had not been known to have been
reproduced. Her 1891 copies were smaller versions that did not include the face of Homer and
cut off everything outside of the inner ring of masonry. It was the sad condition of the original
Peale that prompted Eugenia to undertake making a copy of the entire original painting
including the circle of masonry, the oak wreath, and Homer’s head on the keystone. Working in
her studio in the Maltby Building (Senate Annex) near the Capitol, she completed the full-scale
version and it was placed on display in the Capitol. Her version could have passed for the
original Peale and it was suggested that it replace the aging, deteriorating original. In 1894, she
said of her effort, “What took Peale eight years to accomplish I reproduced in half that number
of weeks!” [1, 3, 4]
Her copy did not replace the original Peale, however. Senator Voorhees, who had been an
admirer of the original, introduced a bill providing for the purchase of Eugenia’s copy to hang in
the new national library building. Senator Kyle proposed appropriating $1,500 for its purchase,
but the bill was amended to $1,000. and the librarian of congress was directed to place it in a
suitable part of the new library building. [4, 6]
Circa 1891, at the age of nineteen, after the completion of the full-scale copy of Washington,
Eugenia converted to Catholicism, and expressed her desire to become a nun. Understandably,
many were opposed to this decision, as they considered it a waste of her intellect and artistic
genius. Further, she had gained acclaim and financial independence and almost assuredly
would have had a successful career ahead of her. Up until the time Eugenia began her religious
instruction at the Georgetown Convent; she had continued to paint – altar pieces for
Washington area churches and elsewhere. That was in addition to her portraiture and figure
work. In 1894 she completed a six-foot square painting of “Louis Quartorze” in full court dress
with “clever coloring done in the half tones of an ancient tapestry”. Her uncle in Philadelphia
bought it for his library. She was no mere copyist; there was the nuance of the intellectual in
her works. [1, 7, 8]
Circa 1895/96 she “retired from the world” when she left Washington, D. C. to enter the
convent of the Sisters of Visitation in Wilmington, Delaware. She was one of the youngest
members of the order and was also one of the strictest in her observances of the duties
required. Never very strong, her superiors recognized her physical weakness, and attempted to
relax their strict rules in order to alleviate some of her suffering. Eugenia may have been weak
in body, but she was strong in will and insisted in performing the tasks as required by the order.
[7, 9, 10,]
Sister Angelica, the name Eugenia had taken when she entered the novitiate, died in the winter
of 1896, only a short time after entering the convent. She had become very ill prior to
completing her novitiate and prior to her death. The order realizing she was beyond their
earthly ministrations and recognizing her devotion, advanced her into full membership. She
died having achieved her aspiration to become a nun. [7, 11]
Eugenia Shankland (Sister Angelica) was only twenty-five when she died. She had spent more
years of her short life as an artist than as a nun. In 1894, she recognized that her paintings of
George Washington had made her fortune. At that time, the full-scale version of Peale’s
Washington was still in her studio which she looked upon with great pride. At the same time, an
observant visitor would have noticed that beside Washington was a painting of Christ on her
easel; forecasting her path from worldly pride, money and fame to the rewards of the spiritual
realm. [4,7]
Written by Joan Hawk, Researcher and Co-Owner Bedford Fine Art Gallery, February 06, 2026.
Use only with the permission of Bedford Fine Art Gallery.
References:
- https://newspaperarchive.com/washington-morning-times-mar-09-1896-p-6/ (accessed 02/01/2026).
- https://www.kansashistory.gov/kansapedia/john-james-ingalls/12095 (accessed 02/01/2026).
- https://newspaperarchive.com/boston-sunday-globe-feb-18-1894-p-23/ (accessed 02/01/2026).
- https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-inquirer-feb-19-1894-p-5/ (accessed 02/01/2026).
- https://newspaperarcive.com/the-sunday-herald-and-weekly-national-intelligencer-jan-11-1891-p-13/
(accessed 02/01/2026). - https://newspaperarchive,com/washington-times-aug-03-1894-p-3/ (accessed 02/01/2026).
- 7/4. Washington Post (1877-1922); Jan 1, 1897; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post,
pg. 9. - https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-times-dec-07-1894-p-5/ (accessed 02/01/2026).
- Curtis, Georgina Pell, 1911, The American Catholic’s Who’s Who, p. 594, The Catholic World, New York.
(accessed 02/01/2026). - https://newspaperarchive.com/cincinnati-catholic-telegraph-apr-09-1896-p-4/ (accessed 02/01/2026).
- https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia -times-dec-23-1896-p-11 (accessed 02/01/2026).
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