Washington Winter Show 2020

47 Washington was particularly popular. Among the best known of the more than 600 objects at Winterthur that relate to that hero is John Trumbull’s 1790 portrait, Washington at Verplanck’s Point (fig. 1) . This famous image depicts Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and shows the general reviewing French troops at Verplanck’s Point in 1782. The painting was a gift from the artist to Martha Washington and hung in the New Room (Banqueting Room) at Mount Vernon. Trumbull had served as Washington’s aide-de-camp during the siege of Boston, and his father, who governed Connecticut during the war, was a friend of Washington’s. Many foreign-made works targeted the American market. An elegant French mantel clock features a three- dimensional portrait of Washington and perfectly captures the early nineteenth-century American sense of patriotism (fig. 2). The motto “E PLURIBUS UNUM” appears near the eagle and shield from the Great Seal. Lower down, a banner bears an excerpt from Major General Henry (“Light-Horse Harry”) Lee’s eulogy: “WASHINGTON. First in WAR, First in PEACE, First in the HEARTS of his COUNTRYMEN.” The figure of Washington is likely based on John Trumbull’s 1792 painting of the general at the Battle of Trenton. In contrast, the clock’s base plaque represents peace and shows Washington surrendering his sword to the state. The Revolution hardly had ended when British merchants and factories began supplying their erstwhile enemies, the Americans, with huge quantities of patriotic goods. Many of these celebrated George Washington. Staffordshire’s ceramics industry was particularly prolific and produced a range of Washington portraits at different price points. The Wedgwood factory, for example, created elegant black basalt stoneware busts (fig. 3) after originals by French artist Jean-Antoine Houdon. In 1785, Houdon had spent two weeks at Mount Vernon creating studies for portraits of George Washington. He made a life mask and sculpted and fired a clay bust of Washington that would remain at Mount Vernon. One of the artist’s later busts, made after his return to France, inspired Wedgwood’s stoneware example. Also available were more affordable Staffordshire earthenware busts and full-length figures of American heroes, which could be acquired in plain white or with painted colors and gilding. Among these is Winterthur’s ceramic model of Benjamin Franklin (fig. 4), which bears a striking resemblance to a statue erected in Boston in 1856. An image of the statue that was published soon after in the Illustrated London News may have inspired the Fig. 2: Mantel clock portraying George Washington. Jacques Nicolas Pierre François Dubuc, Paris, 1815–19. Brass, ormolu, iron, glass. Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont 1957.1035. Fig. 3: George Washington bust. Wedgwood Etruria factory, Staffordshire, England, 1868. Stoneware (basalt). Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont 1959.2941.