The date given for the sculpture varies. It was commissioned by the
Virginia General Assembly in 1784, begun in 1785, signed "1788", completed in 1791 or 1792, and delivered in 1796.[1][2][3]
Description
The original statue is carved from
Carrara marble, weighing 18 tons. It depicts a standing life-sized Washington. In his right hand is a cane, his left arm rests on a
fasces on which is slung his cape and sword, and at the back is a plow.[4][5] He is shown wearing his military uniform, as Washington wished to be depicted in contemporary attire, rather than that of antiquity popular in
Neo-classical sculpture.[6][7]
With its selection of objects both civilian (the plow and cane) and military (the fasces, sword, and uniform), the statue has been interpreted as invoking the imagery and ideal of an Ancient
Roman dictator,
Cincinnatus, with whom Washington has been compared in his decision to retire from public life following the
Revolutionary War.[1][2][3] Washington was elected president of
The Society of the Cincinnati in 1783. At the time of the statue's commission, Washington had not yet served in the
Constitutional Convention and would not become President of the United States until 1789.
Chief Justice John Marshall, a contemporary of Washington's said of the work, "Nothing in bronze or stone could be a more perfect image than this statue of the living Washington."[8]
Houdon original
In 1784, the
Virginia General Assembly commissioned a statue of George Washington "to be of the finest marble and the best workmanship," necessitating a European craftsman. The Governor of Virginia gave the responsibility of selecting the artist to
Thomas Jefferson, then ambassador to France, who together with
Benjamin Franklin recommended that Jean-Antoine Houdon, the most famous sculptor of the day, execute the work.[4]
Unsatisfied to work from a drawing of Washington by
Charles Willson Peale sent for the project, and lured by a potential commission for an equestrian monument by the
Congress of the Confederation, Houdon agreed to travel to the United States to work directly from Washington.[4] His voyage was conditional on his life being
insured for the trip, asking "that ten thousand
livres be paid to his family should he die during the voyage".[9][10][11] On July 28, 1785, (or, July 22, 1785 [12]) Houdon sailed with Benjamin Franklin and "two of his workmen" [12] from Southampton, England, arriving in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 14.[13]
In early October 1785, Houdon along with three assistants stayed at Washington's plantation
Mount Vernon, taking detailed measurements of Washington's arms, legs, hands and chest and making a life mask of his face.[14] By December, Houdon had returned to France.[15]
Though inscribed with the date "1788", it was completed in France in 1791 or 1792 (depending on the source). It was finally delivered to Richmond in 1796 and placed in the rotunda on May 14, 1796. Various explanations for the delay in its delivery have been given, including the
French Revolution[16] and untimely payments to Houdon, though most sources agree that the continued construction of the new Virginia State Capitol prevented its installation until the time it arrived.[17]
The equestrian monument that originally attracted Houdon to America was never commissioned. The 1783 resolution authorizing such a statue would eventually be fulfilled in 1860 when
Clark Mills's
equestrian statue of George Washington was installed at
Washington Circle.
In the early 21st century the statue, together with the life mask and bust created by Houdon during the design process, were used as part of a forensic reconstruction of George Washington at various ages undertaken by Mount Vernon.[18]
Copies
Beginning in the 19th century, numerous copies of the statue have been made in bronze and plaster, with molds often made directly from the original.[2]
Hubard casts
Following the destruction of a
statue of Washington created by
Antonio Canova when the
North Carolina State House burned in 1831, there was a fear that a similar fate might befall Houdon's statue.[4] During the 1850s, the Virginia General Assembly authorized the casting of 11 bronze copies of the monument. Six bronzes were produced by the foundry of Richmond artist
William James Hubard. Known casts from the Hubard foundry are located at:
Virginia Military Institute in
Lexington, Virginia, unveiled in 1856. After the occupation of Lexington in the American Civil War, it was temporarily relocated to Wheeling, West Virginia, and returned in 1866.[19]
North Carolina State Capitol, in 1857. It was the first monument placed on the new capitol's grounds, designed to replace the destroyed Canova statue.[20]
A plaster cast by Hubard, once located in the U.S. Capitol, was moved in 1950 to the
Smithsonian American Art Museum,[27] and in 2007 transferred to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation in Virginia.[28]
In 1910 an act of the general Assembly of Virginia stated, "That the permission and authority of the State of Virginia be .... granted to the
Gorham Manufacturing Company .... to make further copies or reproductions of the Houdon statue of George Washington from the molds now in possession of said company... belonging to the State of Virginia, for any National, State, Territorial, County of Municipal Government ...... for any university, college, school, library, art gallery, or other educational institution: for any patriotic society ..... related to the history and achievements of George Washington." Each copy was to be stamped with the great seal of Virginia and the phrase, "Copied from the original by Houdon..." Gorham was to pay the state $500 for every statue made.[30] The Virginia legislature banned future taking of molds, and so the subsequent casts were made from existing molds.[2]
In addition to bronze castings, an unknown number of plaster casts were made, including
one from 1932 on display in the
Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis, Indiana,[59] and one in George Washington Hall of the
University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia of unknown make, dating to the 1930s.[60]
^"Control number 76006401". SIRIS Inventory of American Sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
^McCue, George, Photographs by David Finn and Amy Binder, ‘’Sculpture City: St. Louis, Sculpture in the “Gateway to the West”’’ Hudson Hills Press NY and Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, 1988 p. 178
^"Control number 87810007". SIRIS Inventory of American Sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
^"Control number 77002021". SIRIS Inventory of American Sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
^Public Design Commission of the City of New York.
"The Art Collection". The City of New York. Archived from
the original on November 6, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
^"Control number 08580739". SIRIS Inventory of American Sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
^Murdock, Myrtle Cheney, ‘’National Statuary Hall in the Nation’s Capitol, Monumental Press, Washington D.C., 1955 p80-81
^‘’George Washington: Antoine Houdon, Sculptor, A brief history of the most famous sculpture created of America’s immortal patriot issued to commemorate the bicentennial of his birth 1732–1932’’, The Gorham Company, Providence, Rhode Island, 1931
^Evert, Marlyn and Vernon Gay, photographs, ‘’Discovering Pittsburgh’s Sculpture’’, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, 1983 pp355-356
^"Control number 64480190". SIRIS Inventory of American Sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
^Beajer and Style, ‘’Public Sculpture in Wisconsin: An Atlas of Outdoor Monuments, Memorials and Masterpieces in the Badger State’’, SOS! Wisconsin, Save Outdoor Sculpture and Fine Arts Conservation Services, Madison Wisconsin, 1999 p. 25
^"Control number WI000444". SIRIS Inventory of American Sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
^"Control number VA000021". SIRIS Inventory of American Sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
^"Control number 75004360". SIRIS Inventory of American Sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
^Riedy, James L., ‘’Chicago Sculpture’’, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Illinois, 1981 p. 210
^"Control number 75009328". SIRIS Inventory of American Sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
^Fairmount Park Art Association, ‘’Sculpture of a City: Philadelphia’s treasures in Bronze and Stone’’, Walker Publishing Co, Inc., New York, 1974 p. 28
^"Control number CA001147". SIRIS Inventory of American Sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
^"Control number IAS 67750004". SIRIS Inventory of American Sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
^"Control number 77002022". SIRIS Inventory of American Sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
^"Control number NY000649". SIRIS Inventory of American Sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
^"Control number DC000189". SIRIS Inventory of American Sculpture. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
^"Houdon Statue of George Washington". The GW and Foggy Bottom Historical Encyclopedia. Special Collections Research Center, George Washington University Libraries. Archived from
the original on June 13, 2010. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
^"Maxwell School: Facilities". The Maxwell School of Syracuse University. January 14, 2009. Retrieved February 3, 2020.