Picturing Alexander Hamilton

Heidi Applegate, guest lecturer. Coinciding with the Kennedy Center’s production of the Broadway musical Hamilton, guest lecturer Heidi Applegate surveys works of art featuring Alexander Hamilton in this presentation delivered August 5, 2018, at the National Gallery of Art. The American painter John Trumbull and the Italian sculptor Giuseppe Cerrachi are Hamilton’s best known portraitists thanks to the countless reproductions of their works made after Hamilton’s death. Several other artists also created portraits of Hamilton from life, many of which were replicated during the 19th century. Applegate also discusses portraits of Hamilton’s family members and other founding fathers who were important to Hamilton’s political career, as well as the major posthumous paintings and monuments that helped to secure Hamilton’s legacy.