Houdon Statue of George Washington
At the heart of the Capitol Rotunda stands a magnificent life-size marble statue of George Washington, commissioned by the General Assembly in 1784 as a tribute to Virginia’s most respected citizen-soldier. Governor Benjamin Harrison asked Thomas Jefferson, then serving in Paris, to help secure a sculptor.
Jefferson engaged the French artist Jean-Antoine Houdon, who traveled to Mount Vernon in 1785 to study Washington carefully. Houdon created a plaster mask of Washington’s face, took detailed body measurements, and modeled a terra cotta bust. From these studies, he sculpted the statue in fine Carrara marble and shipped it to America in 1796. The statue was placed in the Rotunda on May 14, 1796, where it has remained on nearly continuous display.
Contemporaries of Washington praised the work as a perfect likeness. The statue reflects the balance between Washington’s military and civilian life. He wears his Revolutionary uniform, but stands bareheaded with a fatherly expression. His sword rests at his side while his hand touches a Roman fasces, a symbol of authority. A plow and a walking cane beside him represent his return to the life of a farmer. This imagery recalls the Roman general Cincinnatus, who gave up power to return to private life.