Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

[George] Washington the Free Mason
ca. 1924
Gorham Company, after Jean Antoine Houdon
USA: Rhode Island, Providence
Bronze
overall: 81"h
Extended Loan from Valley of Columbus, Ohio, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, USA
EL2004.001

Full standing figure of George Wasington in uniform, right hand holding a cane, left arm resting on broken column with drapery. Plow behind his feet. On plinth in raised lettering "WASHINGTON / THE FREE MASON"

In 1784 the State of Virginia commissioned the well-known French artist, Jean-Antoine Houdon, to make a sculpture of George Washington. Houdon traveled to Mount Vernon in October 1785, where he took measurements of Washington and made plaster casts of the great man’s face and limbs. In 1791 Houdon completed the work. It was installed in the Virginia State House in 1796. The statue combines elements representing aspects of Washington’s life. In it he holds the cane of a gentleman, wears a soldier’s uniform, stands in front of a farmer’s plow, and rests his arm on an ancient Roman “fasces” or bundle of thirteen sticks – signifying his authority and the unity of the thirteen original states. In 1910 the General Assembly of Virginia authorized the Gorham Company to make bronze replicas. This is one of twenty-two made in the 1910s and 1920s. For additional information, see blog post, April 30, 2013 http://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/2013/04/george-washington-welcomes-you.html