By George, a Stuart!

Or not a George by Stuart?

Hardly anybody wanted the grimy, torn portrait of an aged, slightly paunchy George Washington that for years had been hanging around New Bedford, Mass. The local Boys Club, which owned it, lent it in the 1950s to the town's First National Bank, which put it in storage. That deeply upset Jacob Rubin, 82, a Russian-born furniture maker, who was worried that the painting was "going to wrack and ruin." On behalf of the Boys Club--of which he is a director and benefactor--Rubin tried to sell the portrait. He got no takers--even after he lowered his price to $100. So he and his wife Esther anted up what they thought it was worth--$500--and donated it to the public library, which accepted, says Director Laurence Solomon, "as an act of patriotism."

Then fortune struck. James Brewer III, an art restorer from Durham, Pa., breezed into New Bedford early this year, saw the painting and said it might well be the work of the master American portraitist, Gilbert Stuart. Stuart Biographer Charles Merrill Mount came by to take a close look and declared that Brewer was right and after some restoration the portrait could be worth $500,000. The painting was "certainly the most important discovery of my lifetime," rhapsodized Mount. "This is the top of American paintings."

Not every expert agrees. Vehemently disputing that the portrait is by Stuart, Marvin Sadik, director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, says, "There isn't the slightest possibility that it could be. I would put my hand in the fire to that."

The painting resembles a known Stuart portrait of Washington, but, argues Sadik, who has admittedly seen only a black and white photograph of the work: "The quality isn't there. Stuart could paint beautifully. Whoever painted the New Bedford picture just couldn't paint that well." Moreover, says Sadik, "Stuart would never have painted such a dumb-looking Washington."

The 18th century portraitist was so prolific that up to 50 of his paintings of Washington may be around. Stuart also had plenty of imitators. Many people stumble across a painting of Washington and dream of a Stuart bonanza. Says Monroe Fabian, an associate curator at the National Portrait Gallery: "The paintings come in here in brown paper bags and boxes. People cart them in from halfway across the country." A genuine full-length Stuart, he adds, would be worth "somewhere in the seven-figure range."

All of which makes little difference to Jacob Rubin. Says he: "I was offended that no one--not even American-born citizens--wanted to buy the painting." George Washington, he feels, deserves better than a dark, deserted storage vault--no matter who painted his likeness.

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