George C. Marshall

Artist

Thomas Edgar Stephens, 18 Jan 1886 - 4 Jan 1966

Sitter

George Catlett Marshall, 31 Dec 1880 - 16 Oct 1959

Date

c. 1949

Type

Painting

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

127cm x 101.5cm (50" x 39 15/16"), Accurate

Frame: 151.1 x 125.7 x 10.2cm (59 1/2 x 49 1/2 x 4")

Credit Line

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift of Ailsa Mellon Bruce, 1951

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Object number

NPG.65.66

Exhibition Label

George C. Marshall was, according to one expert observer, the "perfect" soldier. Endowed with a quick mind, a good memory, and a superb sense of strategy, he did not particularly relish war. Yet as chief of staff during World War II, he proved to be a masterful orchestrator of military mobilization. In 1945 President Harry Truman remarked that millions of Americans had served the country well in that conflict, but it had been Marshall who "gave it victory." As capable in peace as in wartime, Marshall later became Truman's secretary of state, and it was he who unveiled in 1947 the American aid program for rebuilding Europe's war-ravaged economies. Ultimately named the Marshall Plan, this venture became one of the greatest triumphs in the entire history of American diplomacy.

Provenance

Ailsa Mellon Bruce; gift to NGA for NPG; transferred in 1965.

Data Source

National Portrait Gallery

See more items in

National Portrait Gallery Collection

Exhibition

20th Century Americans: 1930-1960

On View

NPG, South Gallery 321