Photograph by courtesy of Horace Wells Sellers 



the first French ambassador to the united states: chevalier gerard 



"Whereas the Honorable Sieur Gerard, the first Minister Plenipotentiary to the United 

 States, hath before as well as since their treaty with France uniformly, ably, and zealously 

 promoted the objects of the alliance and welfare of both nations, Resolved, That the com- 

 mittee do request^ Mr. Gerard to sit for his picture before he leaves this city, and that the 

 same be_ placed in the Council Chamber of the United States." So ran the resolution, 

 adopted in 1779 by the Continental Congress, which resulted in this Peale portrait of one of 

 the first and ablest friends of the American Republic in the days of its infancy. 



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