Thursday, June 28, 2018

George Washington

A plaster model by Antono Canova. Commissioned by Thomas Jefferson who insisted the president be depicted as a Roman general instead of an American one. It was a thing at the time.

Now at the Frick Collection. I didn't catch from the article if they meant it's at The Henry Clay Frick House in N.Y or at the Frick Collection in Pittsburgh.

This was the only bright spot on NYT front page. They are filled to the brim with woe. You should go there for a laugh. It's like a newspaper run by some fer'ner with serious issues. So I didn't stay there. Just glanced.

Then read elsewhere, at the Observer. This photograph was pulled from Duckduckgo photos. The one at the Observer is cropped too much. But they do have one of George Washington nude. Antono Canova did that one too.


Ha ha ha. A Roman. Idealized. The marble version was destroyed in a fire. More deets at the link.

5 comments:

chickelit said...

He would have shivered crossing the Delaware dressed like that. Doesn’t fit the Valley Forge image either. Did Romans have this problem when aping Greeks?

ampersand said...

On the nude statue put on bigger ears, a potbelly and his pants around his ankles and call it "LBJ on his Throne"

rcommal said...

I get why you've been making it so hard. I deserve that.

What I don't get is what you've done, in response. Why is it that everything I've ever had to say is entirely worthless to you?

edutcher said...

Depicting George other than as an American has never worked.

This is why "citizens of the world" have a tough time here/

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Kind of reminds me of a studly version of George C. Scott.