American Icon

Americans of the Revolutionary era looked to ancient Rome and Greece as models of republican ideals, and this bronze copy of the original marble statue that has stood in the rotunda of the Virginia State Capitol since 1796 combines classical and American symbols familiar to them. George Washington appears as a modern Cincinnatus, the Roman farmer and general who left his farm to save the Roman Republic and then voluntarily returned to his plow. To study Washington, French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon traveled to America, stayed at Mount Vernon for two weeks, took detailed measurements, and cast a life mask. Washington’s family believed the finished statue was the most realistic depiction ever made of him. He wears his military uniform but carries a civilian walking cane instead of his sword, which has been set aside, stands by a farmer’s plowshare as a symbol of peace and agriculture, and rests his hand on fasces, a Roman symbol of civil authority, whose thirteen rods represent the union of the original states and the strength gained from that unity.

Schuylkill, Pennsylvania · United States