''George Washington'' was a life-size marble statue of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

, done in the style of a

Roman general Roman generals were often career statesmen, remembered by history for reasons other than their service in the Roman Army. This page encompasses men whom history remembers for their accomplishments commanding Roman armies on land and sea. A * Man ...

, by the Italian Neoclassical sculptor

Antonio Canova Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the cla ...

. Commissioned by the

State of North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia an ...

in 1815, it was completed in 1820 and installed in the rotunda of the

North Carolina State House The North Carolina State House was built from 1792 to 1796 as the state capitol for North Carolina. It was located at Union Square in the state capital, Raleigh, in Wake County. The building was extensively renovated in the neoclassical style by ...

on December 24, 1821. The building and the statue were destroyed by fire on June 21, 1831. This work was the only one created by Canova for the United States.

History

In December 1815, the House of Commons and the Senate of North Carolina unanimously resolved to commission a full-length statue of Washington. Governor William Miller, with the assistance and recommendation of

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

, determined that Canova should be the sculptor and that

Thomas Appleton Thomas Gold Appleton (March 31, 1812April 17, 1884), son of merchant Nathan Appleton and Maria Theresa Gold, was an American writer, an artist, and a patron of the fine arts. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow became his brother-in-law after marrying Ap ...

, American consul in

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

, Italy, should handle the negotiations. Washington had died in 1799, and Jefferson recommended that Canova use the marble bust of Washington by

Giuseppe Ceracchi Giuseppe Ceracchi (also known as ''Giuseppe Cirachi'') (4 July 1751 – 30 January 1801) was an Italian sculptor, active in a Neoclassic style in Italy, England and the nascent United States, who was a passionate republican during the American a ...

as a model for the head; Appleton owned a plaster copy. Canova started work on the statue at his studio in Rome in 1817, completing several sketches and

maquette A ''maquette'' (French word for scale model, sometimes referred to by the Italian names ''plastico'' or ''modello'') is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', from the Italian word for "sketc ...

s (also described as modellos or bozzettos). He finished the statue in 1820. Governor Miller had requested a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

vessel to transport it from Italy. Commodore

William Bainbridge William Bainbridge (May 7, 1774July 27, 1833) was a Commodore in the United States Navy. During his long career in the young American Navy he served under six presidents beginning with John Adams and is notable for his many victories at sea. ...

, commander of , delivered it to Boston on July 22, 1821. The statue ultimately arrived in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Sout ...

, on December 24 and was installed in the rotunda of the state house as part of an official ceremony, attended by Governor

Jesse Franklin Jesse Franklin (March 24, 1760August 31, 1823) was the Democratic-Republican U.S. senator from the U.S. state of North Carolina between 1799 and 1805 and between 1807 and 1813. In 1804, Franklin briefly served as President pro tempore of the Uni ...

and the legislature. Colonel William Polk, an officer in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, addressed the audience in the dedication speech, comparing Canova to

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was ins ...

and praising Washington. Canova did not see the statue installed in North Carolina: he died in Venice in 1822. In March 1825, the

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revolutio ...

viewed the statue and was reported to state that "the likeness was so much better than he expected to see." Following the major fire of May 29, 1831, in Fayetteville, the state decided to protect the wooden roof of the state house with zinc sheets. On June 21, while working to fireproof the building, workers accidentally set the roof on fire while soldering nail heads to the zinc. The resulting destruction of both the state house and Canova's statue was described as an "Awful conflagration!" in ''

The Raleigh Register ''The Register-Herald'' is six-day morning daily newspaper, Monday thru Friday with a Weekend Edition delivered on Saturday mornings and is based in Beckley, West Virginia, and also covering surrounding communities in Fayette, Greenbrier, Raleig ...

'' on June 23. A plaster replica was sent by the Italian government in 1910 and is on view at the

North Carolina Museum of History The North Carolina Museum of History is a history museum located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It is an affiliate through the Smithsonian Affiliations program. The museum is a part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives ...

. A marble copy was sculpted by

Romano Vio Romano Vio (February 11, 1913 – August 23, 1984) was an Italian sculptor. He was born in Venice and taught sculpture there. Timeline * 1931/1935 - Exhibited at the Bevilacqua La Masa Gallery in Venice * 1932/1936 - Studied and worked wit ...

in 1970, and is displayed in the rotunda of the

North Carolina State Capitol The North Carolina State Capitol is the former seat of the legislature of the U.S. state of North Carolina which housed all of the state's government until 1888. The Supreme Court and State Library moved into a separate building in 1888, and the ...

, which was built in the same spot as the state house destroyed in 1831.

Description

The statue was made of

Carrara marble Carrara marble, Luna marble to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara in the province of Massa ...

. Washington is dressed ''all'antica'' in ancient Roman military armor and shown seated holding a tablet in his left hand and a quill in his right hand; a modern

Cincinnatus Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus ( – ) was a Roman patrician, statesman, and military leader of the early Roman Republic who became a legendary figure of Roman virtue—particularly civic virtue—by the time of the late Republic. Cincinnatus ...

drafting his farewell address to the nation. At his feet are a sword and

baton Baton may refer to: Stick-like objects *Baton, a type of club *Baton (law enforcement) *Baston (weapon), a type of baton used in Arnis and Filipino Martial Arts *Baton charge, a coordinated tactic for dispersing crowds of people *Baton (conductin ...

. The following inscription was on the base: The statue was displayed on a separate pedestal made by Canova's student, Raimondo Trentanove, son of

Antonio Trentanove Antonio Trentanove (c. 1745 – 1812) was an Italian sculptor and stucco-artist, active in Bologna in a Neoclassical style. He was born in Rimini and studied at the Accademia Clementina. He is best known for his stucco decorations. He completed ...

. Trentanove carved four

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

s into the white marble of the pedestal, with each scene depicting an important aspect of Washington's life, as specified by Appleton. The front relief showed the surrender of British General

Charles Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...

at Yorktown with Washington in victory. The second scene showed his resignation as commander-in-chief of the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. The third one his election as President of the United States. The last one showed him with a plow back at his farm at

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

, like

returning to private life.

Legacy

From May 23 through September 23, 2018, the

Frick Collection The Frick Collection is an art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection (normally at the Henry Clay Frick House, currently at the Frick Madison) features Old Master paintings and European fine and decorative arts, including works by ...

presented an exhibition, ''Canova's George Washington'', that displayed several of the

s used to create the work, including a full-size plaster model, on loan from the

Museo Canova The Museo Canova is a museum established in 1833 at the birthplace of the Italian sculptor Antonio Canova (1757-1822) in Possagno in the province of Treviso in the Veneto, Italy. The museum is dedicated to the life and work of the sculptor and is c ...

Possagno Possagno is a comune in the Province of Treviso, in the Italian region Veneto. It is located about northwest of Venice and about northwest of Treviso. As of 31 August 2021, it had a population of 2,191 and an area of .All demographics and other ...

. The exhibition then traveled to the Museo Canova, where it ran from November 10, 2018 until April 22, 2019.

Gallery

File: Antonio Canova Selfportrait 1792.jpg,

Canova Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the cl ...

, self-portrait, 1792 File:George Washington by Ceracchi - marble, profile, MMA.jpg, Marble bust of Washington by

, 1795 File:Canova's Statue of General George Washington, lithograph by Newsam.jpg, Lithograph of original Statue and pedestal depicted in the rotunda of the

with bas-reliefs by R. Trentanove File:Canova-Washington.JPG, ''George Washington'', plaster replica on display at the

File:George Washington by Antonio Canova - DSC05895.jpg, ''George Washington'', copy by

in the

File:Possagno, Gipsoteca Canoviana 2.jpg, Plaster model at the

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* * * {{George Washington 1820 sculptures Statues of George Washington

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Marble sculptures in the United States Monuments and memorials to George Washington in the United States Statues in North Carolina Destroyed sculptures