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Person

George Washington Whistler

A portrait depicts George Washington Whistler, an American civil engineer from the 19th century, wearing formal attire with a bow tie and hat, set against a warm-toned background.

American civil engineer (1800–1849), West Point graduate and veteran of several early US railroads. Recruited by Tsar Nicholas I in 1842 to build the Saint Petersburg–Moscow line, he chose a five-foot gauge that became the Russian standard. He died of cholera in Saint Petersburg. His son, the painter James McNeill Whistler, spent much of his childhood there.

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