Horatio Greenough was fascinated by George Washington and produced a prolific body of work representing the larger-than-life historical figure. Greenough became so well known for his depictions of Washington that, in 1832, he was commissioned by Congress to sculpt a ten-foot statue of a seated Washington for the United States Capitol—a project he completed in 1840 (see figure 1). During the eight years he worked on this monument, Greenough made several busts of Washington, including ones commissioned by James Biddle, James I. Roosevelt and John Halsey. The present bust relates very closely to these versions. In each, the face of Washington is based on a 1789 sculpture created by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon from a plaster life mask he took during a trip to Mount Vernon in 1785.

Fig. 1 Horatio Greenough, George Washington, 1840. Smithsonian American Art Museum.