Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-07-15
Washington in Marble
and Bronze.
ny Frederic .. IIaskin

Washington. July f5y--TSondon now
has bronze copy Of the Houdon
statue Of George Washington. Paris
has had its bronze copy since 1910.
In the Palace Of Versailles. Washing
ton has its bronze and plaster copies
The Richmond State capitol has the
original. Besides the various copies
Of his famous work. Houdon mas been
further immortalized IN that almost
every sculptor who has essayed TO
make figure Of Washington has
gone to his model for correctness Of
features and dimensions HOudon's
statue has become the accepted like
ness Of the Father Of His Country az
he really was.
That Houdon's Washington ie al
| piece Of authentic realism there can be
10 doubt Houdon. painter 70 kings,
CAME from France 20 spend two weeks
at Mt Vernon studying his subject
At this time, Washington allowed the
sculptor 10 make mask 0f his face,
head and chest, and from the mask
Houdon modelled his statue that was
to make II impossible for later genera
tions ~ sculptors to speculate as to
the length Of the first Pregident's
nose or the set Of his jaw. Painters
may make portraits If Washington
50 different in expression and feature
that We can scarcely imagine the same
man as the subject @ all of them, but
Houdon's mask is Washington.
a mask, II is true. does not show
the face in any animated expression.
IT must necessarily be a face in abb
solute repose. For this reason. come
artists have claimed that the best
I paintings Of Washington and other
heroes come nearer to creating a true
i Impression Of the man as he actually
/ looked than statues made from masks.
/ on this connoisseurs differ. TIE stat
ae Of Houdon shows Washington
strong and dignified of face ~ he must
often nave looked at the age Of -.
after he mad weathered the battles
Of the Revolution.
Masks In the Making.
The stories of HoudOn's yis.; do not
show how ne persuaded Washington
to allow . mask 10 be made. IL il
well known that a year Or two before
Joseph Wright. young American.
artist. had painted Washington and
then received permission 70 make a
+ life mask This ~ always a trying
/ operation. The subjects hair must
+ be oiled 10 keep the plaster from stick-
/ ing. and silk thread placed On the
! face 50 that It can be pulled AT the
right moment to break the cast Ar
rangenents must be made for breath
/ ing. And then the plaster must be
/ laid on the features until the face ~
entirely covered and the plaster
/ hardeng in the mold
4 All the prelininaries. the Young ar
+ list managed successfully. But when
I It came to removing the cast. he was
nervous he was aware no doubt
/ that his distinguished sitter must BE-
/ uncomfortable beneath the stffening
weight of plaster. and with scant op-
i portunity to breathe. AT any rate. he
removed the mask too soon and ii
broke IN a number of fragments too
small TO be of any use Washington
+ is said 10 have been 80 ANNOYED that
/ the work had gone for nothing that he
vowed--one historian says profanelv-
that never would he have another
mask made. Yet Houdon oyercame
this antipathy. and his mask was per
feet.
Washington's greatness was ap-
preciated by his contemporaries, and
even before he became President,
statues Of him we're being urged The
Houdon statue was approved by
+ resolution Of the assembly ~ the
state Of Virginia in 1854. The state
wished 10 honor its most iliuStri0us
citizen, ana also il wanted a perma-
nent souvenir Of him. jefferson. who
was in France. was asked to commits
sion the best sfatuaryH n Europe 10
F preserve the face of the General. lie
hose Houdon.
Ii Is said that the F'res.ch sculptor
was eager TO make also an equestrian
statue OF Washington which was urg-
81 as a national monument 70 be
placed in the residence of Congress"
plans for this were delayed. and Eou-
don never made the national monu-
ment to the first President
Immediately after Washington died,
f Congress planned a monument for the
rotunda Of the Capitol and passed 4
resolution TO ask Mrs. Washington Il
the body Of the former President
might lie in the circular hall beneath
he rotunda. Mrs. Washington. giving
the rotunda. Mrs. Washington 5nswer-
"a. giving her permission. II was
hitting. Congress felt that the Father
Of His Country should lie in the cen
ter Of the Capitol. at the exact spot
which l. LEnfant had marked as the
center of the city. Il was also
thought fitting that a monument
should be placed over the tomb. But
+ correspondence. plans and committee
meetings went on for 81 years with
out anything being done
Then. the proprietor Of Mt. Vernon,
+ John Washington. refused consent to
the removal Of Washington 10 the
/ Capitol. and the incident was regard
/ ed as closed. PlaEs FOR the monu-
Ineut, however, were spurred UP by his
refusal An American sculptor named
Horatio Greenough was commissioned
almost immediately to execute in
marble fun length pedestrian statue
of Washington. TO be placed in the
center of the rotunda OF the Capitol.
the head 10 be a copy of Houdon's
/ Washington ard the accessories left
70 the Judgment of the artist.
Greenough proceeded to create the
most argued over statue of Washing
ton that has ever been produced. OF
the features there was no criticism.
hut Greeuough chose 10 represent the
statesman Washington rather than
the soldier, and ne dressed the figure
in a togo. 3 ia julius Cesar. The
figure was represented sitting, with
the waist practically bare. ana with
"a drapery covering the lower part of