L'Enfant Gallery of Georgetown

L'Enfant Gallery of Georgetown Washington DC’s Premier Fine Art and Antiques Gallery in the ❤️ of Historic Georgetown. In business 40+ years.

08/08/2026

L’Enfant Gallery is open as normal from Wednesday - Sunday, 10am - 6pm with Brian Michael Smith making a guest appearance this summer.

However Peter Colasante is OUT OF OFFICE and will be back end of August.

Happy summer holidays to all.

06/20/2026

What do you think this drawing is all about? Is that a cake in a locked box?

Share in comments the ***r symbolism of this extraordinary drawing.

Image 1: original pencil drawing by John Lear (1910-2008) with water and light damage found this week in L’Enfant Gallery basement. Unsigned. Under research, not yet priced. Lear was known as the Philadelphia surrealist.

Image 2/3: Detail of work listed above.

Image 4-8: from

Images 9 - : other works for sale from L’Enfant Gallery which are from the same collection portfolio of drawings we found last week in our basement.

We are proud to share this for as we celebrate and WELCOME ALL to L’Enfant Gallery in the nations capital.

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Back ground to the discovery: For the first time since ‘the new management’ came on board at L’Enfant Gallery, we have emptied the plan chests in our basement.

These chests contain all our unframed works on paper.

Gallery owner Peter Colasante has been dealing art in Washington DC since 1973, and has not seen some of these works for decades. Some come with longgggg stories. Some even Peter claimed he has never seen before.

All original drawings on aged paper, around 25” x 20” or smaller. All are under research so not yet priced. DM if interested.

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In researching this work we found several other collectors and conesaurers of johnlear including

06/19/2026

THIS BOOK IS ART AT WORK.

Here we try to elevate this book in the best way we can; to a big frame on a big wall.

The book is from a song called “Build a House” by Rhiannon Giddens

Build a House tells the story of a people who would not be moved and the music that sustained them.

It is a proud view of history with a vital message: honor your heritage, express your truth, and let your voice sing loud, even—or perhaps especially—when your heart is heaviest.

As an acclaimed musician, singer and songwriter, Rhiannon Giddens has long used her art to mine America’s musical past and manifest its future, passionately recovering lost voices and reconstructing a nation’s musical heritage.

The song was released in 2020 to commemorate the 155th anniversary of and was originally performed with cellist Yo-Yo Ma . Book illustrations are by Monica Mikai 🜳 Author 🜳 Illustrator 🜳 Storyteller

Thanks to the National Building Museum for their exhibition about architecture in children’s literature called “Building Stories” which is where we discovered it.

Lyrics below.

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You brought me here to build your house, build your house, build your house

You brought me here to build your house and grow your garden fine

I laid the brick and built your house, built your house, built your house

I laid the brick and built your house, raised the plants so high

And when you had the house and land, the house and land, the house and land

And when you had the house and land, then you told me “go.”

I found a place to build my house, build my house, build my house

I found a place to build my house since I couldn’t go back home

You said I couldn’t build a house, build a house, build a house

You said I couldn’t build a house, so you burned it down

So then I traveled far and wide, far and wide, far and wide

And then I traveled far and wide until I found a home

I learned your words and wrote a song, wrote a song, wrote a song

I learned your words and wrote a song to put my story down…

…You brought me here to build a house, build a house, build a house

You brought me here to build a house. I will not be moved.

No, I will not be moved. No, I will not be, I will not be, I wi

05/11/2026

WERE YOU HERE?

DID YOU SEE IT?

WILL YOU COME NEXT TIME?

Visit our website to hear when we will all meet again...

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SO WHAT HAPPENED ON FRIDAY NIGHT?

A lucky group of 50 people sat with us in L’Enfant Gallery and rode a wave of surprising powerful emotions and took home a rediscovered sense of wonder.

Together we felt the music, shared the energy, marvelled in disbelief at the magic, and became part of a beautiful community of creative souls in A CITY THAT NEEDS AND WANTS THE ARTS now more than ever.

Thank you all those friends and strangers who came and supported our cast of artists.

IMMERSIVE.

UNPREDICTABLE.

UNFORGETTABLE.

L’Enfant Gallery was so honoured to welcome POLITE SOCIETY as they stepped out of New York City for the first time ever, and into the heart of Georgetown for one night only.

TANSY was our ringmaster host extraordinaire and guided us upstairs and downstairs, surrounded by endless paintings which adorn every wall.

The show unfolded in many unexpected and endlessly entertaining ways as the layers were removed.

MAGIC.

FUNNY.

EXCITING.

TANSY had gathered a lineup of skilled professionals; DC pianist and
on sax.

is DC burlesque at its best. She shared her smile, gloves & feathers.

The world renowned & very funny magician cannot be described in words. Ask someone who was here to explain.

Sensational vocals came in the form of Cunio, who took a moment away from to bring his black stilettos and blinding voice to us. We watched members of the audience close their eyes and tip their head back at the sound.

DC’s powerful mezzo soprano showed playful humour, accompanied by .quentin and .rachael.k.small and glided amongst the sculpture in their tango embrace.

And TANSY showed us why she is an international burlesque icon.

Her elegance, style and grace of movement extended to her costume of threaded gold; gilded couture whispering Klimt’s kiss. An artwork in itself, crafted by - it looked at us with three carefully placed eyes… we stared back.

EYES WIDE OPEN.

Photo:
Light: .d

04/21/2026

We invite you to come and see our our new arrangement of an old show by Paco Lane.

Paco Lane is said to be a man of few words. So we chose a sound track from another man who makes an impact without saying anything; Thank you Gesaffelstein for your remix.

The paintings show here are from Lane’s 2004 collection titled “Miro”. These works show objects of human experience; newspapers, bottles of wine, bowls of fruit and flowers. Lane’s catalogue says of this collection:

“…Paco closes his eyes and departs to the ancient worlds of Spana (land of the rabbit) where the Iberian culture flourished among the green valleys of the Ebro river, down to the south of Spain where a dark sun shines among the walls of the Alhambra, to those quiet interiors inside El Escorial with dark paintings who still hold court, vague and magical in the deepest black.”

Paco still lives and works in Virginia. Peter Colasante represent Paco Lane from 2001 – 2015. His current work can be seen and

04/06/2026

Thank you - We are touched and grateful that your endlessly interesting publication picked up on the eccentric and exceptional work of who inhabited our window durng 2025

WHO IS TERESA?

Terese is a classic oil painter, currently working on a series of still life paintings of flowers, babies and fish.

The surrealist twists, for which she is internationally known, become clearer when you look closely…

As Terese worked in window at this time last year, photographing her realistic dolls with fruits, flowers and our antique Japanese porcelain, we discussed the role of chubby infants through art history.

Teresa was dressed in her own Victorian style; silk bows, stockings and buckled shoes. As she moved her tripod, she explained her work:

“The photographs guide my surrealist paintings; the dolls are transformed into “putti”; winged cherubs. When I paint, the dolls will have wings and fly in a Koi pond surrounded by bubbles…”

WHO PHOTOGRAPHED TERESA?

Images 4,5&6 by on her first visit to L’Enfant Gallery and we are happy to have had many more opertunities to work together since.

Images 8&9 by who visited on the and gifted his photographs. Jonathon Woolford-Hunt working as is a photographer and multidisciplinary artist with global experience capturing art in all its forms. He has finished a Master’s in Media Art and Film , filmed his MA film submission in our gallery and will be arranging a screening here soon.

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We continue to welcome - especially photographers with a creative vision for a highly styled shoots. Just let us know.

Address

1442 Wisconsin Avenue Nw
Washington D.C., DC
20007

Opening Hours

Tuesday 11am - 6pm
Wednesday 11am - 6pm
Thursday 11am - 6pm
Friday 10am - 6pm
Saturday 10am - 6pm
Sunday 11am - 6pm

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