Official Presidential Portrait

Initially, TR chose Frenchman Theobald Chartran to paint his official presidential portrait.  Chartran had painted a lovely portrait of the president's wife, but there was trouble from the start.  TR complained to his son Kermit almost from the beginning that he did not like the unfinished work, and he liked the finished version even less.  By all accounts, it made him appear dainty and delicate, the polar opposite of his image.  I say "by all accounts" because we do not have the portrait to look at.  It was initially set aside and eventually destroyed.  Anglo-American painter John Singer Sargent was brought in to paint a replacement.  When TR asked Sargent how he should pose, the painter told him to just try something.  Within seconds, Sargent said, "Stop right there," and the result is above.  Notorious for having sex with his male models, we can be certain this didn't oocur with the President.  I still have to wonder, though, if Sargent had a crush on his subject.  His only complaint about Teddy was that he couldn't keep still for very long.