Let me start by acknowledging that this post contains a lot more pictures than usually go into a Picture of the Day post. Can’t help it; the decision was made nearly 150 years ago when Philadelphia’s civic pride spilled over into a commission given to the German sculptor Rudolf Siemering.
Siemering had a reputation for truly monumental sculpture, often of German kings and imperial heroes. And Philadelphia was in the mood for something heroic. And big.
Which is actually ironic: The original impetus for the monument came from the Society of the Cincinnati, of which Washington had been president. It was named for the modest Roman hero who left his fields to save his country and then modestly returned, refusing high honors and power. You’d never know it from this monument, were it not for the inscription above.
The monument, which now stands in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, was originally in a nearby park. It has three zones: Washington the mounted hero at the top, in the middle allegorical and historic scenes of his time, and around the base figures representing American flora, fauna and ‘representative’ human figures.
The sculptor was a stickler for detail; he demanded photos and prints of practically everything that could eventually be part of the assembly; he was furnished a mold of a life mask of Washington to do the face, And, he wanted the statue to be gilded, but the committee wouldn’t go that far. It had taken 70 years of fundraising to get this far and…
Siemering started work on the project in 1881 but it wasn’t completed until 1897, when it was dedicated by President William McKinley. It was moved to the museum oval when the Museum opened in 1928.
