The Statue And The Copy
ABOUT THE HOUDON STATUE
On June 26. 1784. the General As¬
sembly of Virginia authorized Gov.
Benjamin Harrison to commission a
statue of Gen. George Washington, in
the finest marble and of the best
workmanship, as an expression of
gratitude for Washington's services in
the cause of liberty during the Ameri¬
can Revolution. Gov. Harrison imme¬
diately asked Charles Willson Peale.
the distinguished Philadelphia painter,
to draw a full-length picture of Wash¬
ington for use of a sculptor. He next
wrote to Thomas Jefferson, then
serving as minister to France, re¬
questing him, with the assistance of
Benjamin Franklin, to select an artist
for the task.
Jefferson's choice was the most cel¬
ebrated sculptor in Paris. Jean Antoine
Houdon (1741-1828). who had re¬
ceived commissions in every capital in
Europe. Houdon accepted the assign¬
ment but insisted that he must come to
America to meet the great patriot and
take accurate measurements of him.
Houdon. accompanied by two pupils,
arrived at Mount Vernon in October.
1785. He remained for two weeks,
making a life mask and a plaster bust of
the general. At the time. Washington
was 53 year of age. he stood 5 feet 10
inches tall and weighed 210 pounds.
Washington. Jefferson. Houdon.
and several notable American artists
agreed that the statue should present
Washington in eighteenth-century
dress. Jefferson worded his opinion
strongly: “I think a modern in an anti¬
que dress as just an object of ridicule as
a Hercules or Marius with a wig or a
chapeau bras." The finished statue
delineates Washington attired in his
Revolutionary uniform, shod in boots
and spurs. He holds a cane in his
gloved right hand. At his left is his
sword, and in the background there is a
ploughshare with mouldboard. His
right hand rests on his military cloak,
which is draped over a bundle of
fasces, the Roman symbol of authority
and power. The arrangement of ar¬
tifacts was carefully designed to reflect
Washington’s belief that the peaceful
arts of civilian life should dominate the
military.
Houdon's statue of Carrara marble
was dated 1788, but it was not received
THI •TATI, MARCH 1*71
in Richmond until May. 17%. follow¬
ing completion of the new capitol
building. Periodically. Virginians be¬
came fearful that some catastrophe
would destroy the statue, and it was for
that reason that W. J. Hubard was
granted permission to make bronze
copies of it.
After the unveiling of Hubard's re¬
production of the Houdon statue in
Raleigh on July 4. 1857. the Raleigh
Register made this comment: "some
have expressed disappointment with
the statue. They say it is not exactly
the Washington they have almost wor¬
shipped. Let such remember that their
Washington, the Washington common
in most prints is the Old Hero in his last
clays.”
Perhaps the real complaint was that
this likeness of Washington differed
markedly from the beloved Canova
statue of him which had been displayed
in the Capitol for a decade and was
destroyed when the Statehousc burned
in 1831. Judge John Marshall (later
chief justice), who knew Washington
and who saw both the Houdon and
Canova statues, commented in 1826
that the Canova statue was not like
Washington in any respect what¬
soever. Houdon's statue, he said, "is a
very exact representation of Wash¬
ington. — particully [sic] when viewed
in a position so as to look at the figure
between the front and left side."
Nevertheless, the Canova Washington
was North Carolina's own representa-
W.ll.om Jam*. Hubard (coertaiy
«*
V.rfl.nie
MvMwm)
Howdoa's
"»о-Ы«
ttotve
о»
Gco*m W«h.ngton
rh. Co*»*») of B<hmood. V horn -h Kb oor
Bronx* copy
-о»
mode by Hubord Photogroph from
"Memoir» of the Life ond Work» of Jeon Antoine
Houdon the Sculptor of Voltaire ond Woihingfon".
Calligraphy by Coroli ne Bonk»
lion of the great statesman, and it was
the likeness many Tar Heels must have
remembered in 1857.
In addition to the six bronze copies
of the Houdon statue made by W. J.
Hubard. sixteen have been cast since
1909 by the Gorham Company of New
York. Locations of all 22 are described
in Ronald E. Heaton's The Image of
Washington: The History of the
Hon Jon Statue (1971). The best biog¬
raphy of the sculptor is Memoirs of the
Life and Work of Jean Antoine
Houdon, the Sculptor of Voltaire,
Charles Henry Hart and Edward Bid¬
dle (1911). — Marie D. Moore
. .. AM) THE MAN WHO COPIED IT
FOR NORTH CAROLINA
W'illiam James Hubard. an artist of
versatility and genius, was bom in
Whitchurch. Shropshire. England on
August 20. ?. and died in Richmond.
Virginia, on February 15. ?. Hubard
left his mark in North Carolina most
conspicuously in his bronze copy of
the familiar Houdon Statue of George
Washington, installed on the Capitol
grounds in Raleigh in 1857. In addition,
there are probably five oil portraits on
и
