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Sic Virtus et Victa Placet

Sic Virtus et Victa Placet
Engraver: Pieter Stevens van Gunst, after le Brun
Paper
Late 17th ...
Sic Virtus et Victa Placet
Sic Virtus et Victa Placet
Engraver: Pieter Stevens van Gunst, after le Brun
Paper
Late 17th ...
Sic Virtus et Victa Placet Engraver: Pieter Stevens van Gunst, after le Brun Paper Late 17th-century
Status
Not on view
Label Text

George Washington amassed a rather large and sophisticated collection of prints during his lifetime. They included portraits of eminent persons, classical landscapes, and scenes from modern and ancient history, such as this series of five, massive line engravings detailing the triumphs of Alexander the Great. Washington likely kept these rare and expensive prints in a portfolio in his Study. It is not known when and from whom he might have acquired them.

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Date1720
After (French, 1619 - 1690)
Engraver (Dutch, 1659 - 1724)
Geography Made - Netherlands
DimensionsOverall: 21 in. x 41 in. (53.34 cm x 104.14 cm)
Credit LineGift of Annie Burr Jennings, Vice Regent for Connecticut, 1936
Object numberW-717/A
DescriptionThis print is a scene in a wooded landscape depicting King Porus, wounded, carried before Alexander the Great after the battle of the Hydaspes River.
Published ReferencesJoseph Manca, George Washington's Eye: Landscape, Architecture, and Design at Mount Vernon (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012), 208, 285.

R. T. H. Halsey, "Prints Washington Lived at Mount Vernon," Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 30 (March 1935): 65.

Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington as First President of the United States. Committee on Art and Exhibition, Catalogue of the Loan Collection of Portraits, Relics, and Silverware Exhibited at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, April 17th to May 8th, 1889, (New York: Trow's Printing and Bookbinding Company, 1889), 94.
MarkingsPrinted in ink below the image on the left portion of the print sheet: "Virtus et Victa Placet. / Pori Regis victi captique magnanimitatem no misericordia modo / sed honore prosequitor Alexander, Illumque in amieorium numerum / recipit, mox doncit amphore regne". Printed in ink below the image on the right portion of the print sheet: "La Vertue Plaist Quoy Que Vaincue. / Alexandre n'est pas seulment touche de compassion en voyant la grandeur d'ame du Roy Poris au'il a vaincu, et / fait son prisonnier, mais il lay donne des marques honorables de son estie en le voceuant au nombre de ses amis. / et en luy donnant en suite un plus grand Royaume que celuy qu'il avoit perdu."
Mount Vernon's object research is ongoing and information about this object is subject to change. For information on image use and reproductions, click here.
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