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Portrait painting is a practice several millennia old. Cultures all over the world have long captured the likenesses of notable figures on stone, canvas, and other available surfaces as a way to remember them and honor their achievements and legacies.
In the United States, commissioned portraits of past Presidents are displayed in museums and on the walls of the White House for those very reasons: so that generations to come can look upon the faces of those we elected to lead our country and to pay homage to their efforts. Unfortunately, though well-painted, those portraits can be problematic. Weird lighting, horrible wardrobe, bad hair, and stank faces can ruin the future's perception of who a President was when captured in oil or in photographs and submitted as official entries in our national record.
We've collected some of those official failures in this gallery of The 25 Worst Presidential Portraits.
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25. Ulysses S. Grant
25. Ulysses S. Grant
Painter: Unknown
Year: Late 1800s
The invisible legs, chair, and Whistler's Mother stare were all bad choices.
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24. James A. Garfield
24. James A. Garfield
Painter: Calvin Curtis
Year: 1881
Someone could have lent them a few more candles or lanterns for this session.
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23. Rutherford B. Hayes
23. Rutherford B. Hayes
Painter: Daniel Huntington
Year: 1884
Dark and gloomy skies are never a good backdrop for a President.
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22. George Washington
22. George Washington
Painter: Gilbert Stuart
Year: 1797
We understand that it was 1797, but were the Shakespearean pose and leprechaun shoes really necessary, George?
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21. Grover Cleveland
21. Grover Cleveland
Painter: Eastman Johnson
Year: 1891
This looks like a man whose steak dinner is 45 minutes later than he expected.
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20. Abraham Lincoln
20. Abraham Lincoln
Painter: George P.A. Healy
Year: 1869
This is beautifully painted, but again, a bad pose can ruin everything. Crossed legs with the stock grad photo "thinking man" pose is a bit much.
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19. Benjamin Harrison
19. Benjamin Harrison
Painter: Eastman Johnson
Year: 1895
That is such a beautiful gown. His raised eyebrow and stance show that he knows it, too.
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18. William Taft
18. William Taft
Painter: Anders Zorn
Year: 1911
Is that a shrimp in his hand? And what is going on with his leg?
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17. Franklin Pierce
17. Franklin Pierce
Painter: George P.A. Healy
Year: 1858
A little less presidential, a little more 19th century James Bond with a side-part. Pierce, Frank Pierce.
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16. James Madison
16. James Madison
Painter: John Vanderlyn
Year: 1816
Soon.
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15. Calvin Coolidge
15. Calvin Coolidge
Painter: Charles Hopkinson
Year: 1921
This portrait would make more sense if Coolidge were a witness taking the stand in a courtroom and not the President of the United States.
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14. James Monroe
14. James Monroe
Painter: Samuel Morse
Year: 1819
A presidential portrait should make one look, well, presidential. This falls very short.
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13. Millard Fillmore
13. Millard Fillmore
Painter: George P.A. Healy
Year: 1957
"I'm a little teapot," maybe?
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12. Zachary Taylor
12. Zachary Taylor
Painter: Joseph Henry Bush
Year: 1848
He looks depressed. We would be too if we had to hold our breath in fear of losing those shiny buttons.
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11. James K. Polk
11. James K. Polk
Painter: George P. A. Healy
Year: 1858
Is it just us, or does he look like he is toeing the line between nicest guy ever and deranged cannibal? It's probably just us.
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10. Martin Van Buren
10. Martin Van Buren
Painter: Francis Alexander
Year: ~1830-40
Scrooge McDuck is on the way to his vault to make a deposit (some of you are probably too young for that reference).
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9. John Adams
9. John Adams
Painter: John Trumbull
Year: 1792-93
President Adams looks like a sad bird under a street lamp on a rainy night. OK, the "rain" is cracked paint due to the age of the painting, but that doesn't excuse the bad lighting and facial expression. Unforgivable.
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8. John Tyler
8. John Tyler
Painter: George P. A. Healy
Year: 1859
There is probably a good reason why the artist included the crumbled newspaper, but viewers are not always privy to that kind of background information. Our eyes tell us that someone may have run out of toilet paper and found a substitute.
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7. John Quincy Adams
7. John Quincy Adams
Painter: Gilbert Stuart
Year: 1818
It's like the artist told him to hold the meanest face he could think of while stroking a picture of George Washington with the back of one hand and holding a page of a book he clearly isn't reading with the other. Toss in an ill-fitting jacket and weird curtain and voila! That chair is undeniably dope though.
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6. Warren G. Harding
6. Warren G. Harding
Painter: Edmund Hodgson Smart
Year: 1923
The O.G., Warren G! He can't "regulate" from this deep in the bushes though, can he?
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5. James Buchanan
5. James Buchanan
Painter: William Merritt Chase
Year: 1902
James Buchanan looks like he was quite the diva in his day. Those sultry eyes are making us a little uncomfortable.
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4. William Henry Harrison
4. William Henry Harrison
Painter: James R. Lambdin
Year: 1835
Three words: hair and stare.
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3. Andrew Johnson
3. Andrew Johnson
Painter: Eliphalet Andrews
Year: 1880
Remember that Vigo painting in Ghostbusters 2? Yep.
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2. Chester A. Arthur
2. Chester A. Arthur
Painter: Daniel Huntington
Year: 1885
Some Presidents had slaves, we think Chester had hoes. The only other person in history to pull of that jacket was Candyman, and things didn't end well for him.
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1. Andrew Jackson
1. Andrew Jackson
Painter: Ralph E.W. Earl
Year: 1835
There is nothing right about this portrait. President Jackson may have invented the glamour shot here.
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