James Madison, President of the United States of America
Baltimore, January 1809 - Engraved by David Edwin; published by C. Boyle - Frame: 18⅝ x 14½ inches; sight: 16½ x 12½ inches
 
A highly important presidential engraving depicting James Madison, issued immediately following his election in 1809. The portrait derives from Gilbert Stuart’s 1804 likeness, painted while Madison served as Secretary of State, and was engraved by David Edwin, among the most accomplished line engravers active in the early republic.
 
Advertised in the National Intelligencer on February 17, 1809, the print entered circulation at once; Thomas Jefferson notably recorded the purchase of an example in his memorandum book only days later. As the president who led the United States into the War of 1812, Madison’s image became inseparable from the nation’s assertion of sovereignty against Britain and from the conflict that reshaped American political identity in the early nineteenth century.
 
Condition: Very fine; wide margins.