Day 3: George Washington of the Smithsonian

Today we visited the American History/Air and Space Museums of the Smithsonian Institute. While both of these were very wonderful places, the one thing that caught my attention the most was a statue of George Washington. The statue depicts Washington sitting on a throne, draped in a Roman style tunic, with his right arm and index finger pointing to the sky. Washington wears that ever present frown that is found in almost all other depictions of the man, but this one is a seemly angered frown. This depiction was different in the fact that he was not fully clothed (wearing a Greek style tunic), sitting on a throne, sheathed sword in left hand, while his right hand pointed to the sky. The statue was designed by Horatio Greenough in 1840 to be placed in the “…U.S. Capitol Rotunda” [1]. The statue was designed in a similar way to a statue known as “…Zeus Olympios which was one of the Seven Wonders of the World” [1]. After being relocated numerous times, the statue was moved to the Smithsonian Institute in 1908 where it resides today [1] (in the National Museum of American History). This is most certainly the only depiction of Washington in a godlike form, which most likely came from the fact that he was seen as a god to many of the American people after the Revolution and later. Very interesting nonetheless.

1) “George Washington (statue).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

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