Sully's painting of Washington was too big

Passage of the Delaware (1819), inset: portrait of artist John Sully

It is the birthday of painter Thomas Sully (1783), who is remembered for his portraits of prominent Americans, including John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and James K. Polk. He also painted Marquis de Lafayette and Queen Victoria. Although he was well known for his portraits, Sully also painted landscapes and historical scenes. Among the best known is Passage of the Delaware (1819), which depicts Gen. George Washington during the American Revolution. He originally created the Washington painting for the North Carolina state house but it was too large for the space (did no one think to measure?) so he sent the painting on tour and it was eventually purchased by Boston gallery owner John Doggett. It now hangs in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

Happy birthday, Henry Brooks Adams

Henry Brooks Adams -- Harvard graduation photo. Adams lived to be 80 years old.

It is the birthday of journalist and historian Henry Brooks Adams (1868), whose posthumously-published The Education of Henry Adams (1918) won the 1919 Pulitzer Prize. It tops the Modern Library’s list of the best 100 English-language nonfiction books of the 20th century. It deals with the author’s transition from the 19th century to the 20th. Adams also wrote the nine-volume History of the United States 1801-1817 (1889). It covers the presidencies of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. President John Quincy Adams was his grandfather and President John Adams was his great-grandfather.