A political motion committee (PAC) has donated $650,000 to the Smithsonian Establishment, with most of that cash going towards the creation of portraits of Donald and Melania Trump.

The work will in the end go to the Nationwide Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the place all different latest Presidential portraits presently reside. That is the primary time a former President’s portrait has been financed by a political group.

Over the weekend, Trump’s Save America PAC disclosed a $650,000 “charitable donation” to the Smithsonian Establishment with the Federal Election Fee. The funds might be used to “assist the artists’ charges, transport, framing, set up, and occasions,” Smithsonian spokesperson Linda St. Thomas advised Enterprise Insider.

“Two artists have been commissioned, one for every portrait. The names might be launched nearer to the reveal of the work,” St. Thomas continued. “The creation of the portraits is underway. The timing of the artworks’ reveal not decided but.”

The 2 portraits will value a complete of $750,000 in fee charges. The remaining funds wanted for them might be lined by one other non-public donation. It’s unclear when the portraits might be achieved.

A lot of the cash raised by the Save America PAC comes from small-dollar donations made by people in response to e-mail and different kinds of solicitations. Whereas the donation is unprecedented, it’s technically authorized, as cash raised by PACs can be utilized to fund candidates with mutual pursuits, advisers, journey bills, and authorized charges.

The Nationwide Portrait Gallery was created by Congress in 1962; it didn’t start commissioning portraits, nevertheless, till Ronald Sherr painted George H. W. Bush in 1994. The First Woman’s portraits have been later added to the fee by the museum in 2006.

Earlier portraits have been funded by non-public donations. The $750,000 fee charges for the Obama portraits, painted by Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, for instance, have been paid for by greater than 300 donors in response to the establishment. Funding for the Obama or Bush portraits, nevertheless, weren’t supported by PACs.