On the eve of George W. Bush's inauguration, a portrait of the United States' first president, painted by an Irish artist, was sold for $1,216,000.
The picture, a miniature of George Washington by Dublinborn John Ramage (1748-1802), featured in an auction at Christie's in New York, the city in which it had first been painted.
In his diary for October 3rd, 1789, Washington, himself only recently inaugurated, recorded: "Sat for Mr Rammage [sic] for near two hours today who is painting a portrait in miniature for Mrs Washington."
A watercolour on ivory enclosed in a beaded and chased rose-gold case containing a lock of Washington's hair, the miniature remained in his family's possession for more than a century.
More than 50 portraits of the United States's first president were painted during his lifetime, mostly for official purposes. However, fewer than a dozen of these were miniatures and the one by Ramage is unique in being mentioned by Washington in his diaries. The auction represents a record price for a Ramage work. The buyer wished to remain anonymous, a Christie's spokeswoman said.
John Ramage was born in Ireland, entering the Dublin Society's Schools in 1763. He emigrated to the US and by 1775 was established in Boston as an artist and goldsmith.
In the same year, he was made a second lieutenant of the city's Royal Irish Volunteers, formed by merchants from Ireland. He served throughout the war against the insurgents.
From 1780, Ramage was based in New York but debts forced him to move to Montreal, Canada, where he died in 1802. A copy of the Washington portrait which he had made for himself is now in a museum attached to the University of Vermont.