Washington Enthroned

George Washington (1840) is a massive sculpture by Horatio Greenough commissioned for the centennial of U.S President George Washington's birth in February 22, 1732.


Description

Horatio Greenough based “Enthroned Washington” on Phidias' great statue of Zeus Olympios which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (and which was destroyed in late Antiquity).

The seated and sandal wearing Washington gazes sternly ahead. He is bare-chested and his right arm and hand gesture with upraised index finger toward heaven. His left palm and forearm cradle a sheathed sword, hilt forward, symbolizing Washington turning over power to the people at the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War.

The rear base of the statue has an inscription, as follows:

SIMULACRUM ISTUD
AD MAGNUM LIBERTATIS EXEMPLUM
NEC SINE IPSA DURATURUM
HORATIUS GREENOUGH
FACIEBAT[2]

The translation is: "Horatio Greenough made this image as a great example of freedom, and will not survive without freedom itself."

History

George Washington (Photo, ca. 1899)
The U.S. Congress commissioned Greenough to create a statue of Washington for display in the U.S. Capitol rotunda. When the marble statue arrived in Washington, DC in 1841, however, it immediately generated controversy and criticism. Many found the sight of a half-naked Washington offensive, even comical. The statue was relocated to the east lawn of the Capitol in 1843. Disapproval continued and some joked that Washington was desperately reaching for his clothes,[3] then on exhibit at the Patent Office several blocks to the north. In 1908, the statue was brought back indoors when Congress transferred it to the Smithsonian Castle, where it remained until 1964. It was then moved to the new Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History). The marble statue has been exhibited on the second floor of the museum since that time.

Popular culture references

The demigod-like pose of Washington is portrayed in Dan Brown's best-selling novel The Lost Symbol (2009), in which the author describes a hypothesis according to which Washington and the other founding fathers decorated the national capital full of Freemason and other occult symbols. However, the pose was only associated with Freemasonry after the Taxil Hoax, which falsely linked Freemasonry to Satan worship. The Taxil Hoax was perpetrated in the 1890s, while the statue was made in 1840. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_(Greenough)