Margaret Thatcher, George Washington, British political system, American colony, politics, history, Great Britain, USA United States of America
Washington was the general who led the American revolutionary troops to victory against the British. Afterwards, he became president of the USA twice, in 1789 and in 1792. The portrait was painted at the end of his second presidency. He was a Virginian planter and was frustrated with Britain's behavior towards the American colony.
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This second portrait represents one of the most famous world leaders of the second half of the 20th century. She was a woman of firsts. Not only was she the first woman to hold the highest position in the British political system, but she was also the longest-serving Prime Minister of the 20th century.
[...] The dark-blue shade dominating the portrait clearly points to Thatcher's political party, the Tories, or the Conservative side of the British political spectrum. She is wearing a business suit jacket of the same color as well as sapphires of the same hue, tying in with some of the stripes of the Union Jack in the background. She is on the foreground of the picture and overshadows the flag. This emphasizes the strong influence she already had on Britain at the time. [...]
[...] George Washington (Lansdowne Portrait) - Gilbert Stuart (1796); Margaret Thatcher - Michael Leonard (1979) - Presentation https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2001.13?destination=portraits Hello, today I have selected this portrait currently on display in our national portrait gallery. Here in room 10, on the third floor, is the portrait of the most iconic American leaders of all time, George Washington. Washington was the general who led the American revolutionary troops to victory against the British. Afterwards, he became president of the USA twice, in 1789 and in 1792.The portrait was painted at the end of his second presidency. [...]
[...] Her nickname was "the Iron Lady", and there are countless examples in her political career to justify it. She did not hesitate to let Irish political prisoner, Bobby Sands, starve to death in prison along with nine other fellow hunger-strikers. She proved her decisiveness when Britain emerged victorious from the Falkland Wars in 1982. She survived an assassination attempt in 1984 in Brighton when the IRA, seeking revenge for Sands' death, bombed her hotel. She held fast against the miners' strikes and eventually disbanded their unions in the mid-1980's. [...]
[...] There are books on and under the table, as well as a quill to represent Washington as a man of letters, a lover of high culture like his British counterparts. The architectural style of the building he is standing in, with colonnades, could be a direct echo to the front entrance of his Mount Vernon mansion. In the background, there is a rainbow symbolizing the sun after the rain. Washington's presidency is represented as a symbol of hope after the dark days of the Revolutionary era. [...]
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