Skip to main content
Collections Menu

Thus Virtue Triumphs Gloriously

THUS VIRTUE TRIUMPHS GLORIOUSLY
Engraver:  Pieter Stevens van Gunst
After Charles Le Brun
La ...
Thus Virtue Triumphs Gloriously
THUS VIRTUE TRIUMPHS GLORIOUSLY
Engraver:  Pieter Stevens van Gunst
After Charles Le Brun
La ...
THUS VIRTUE TRIUMPHS GLORIOUSLY Engraver: Pieter Stevens van Gunst After Charles Le Brun 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.

Read MoreRead Less
Date1720
After (French, 1619 - 1690)
Engraver (Dutch, 1659 - 1724)
Geography Made - Netherlands
DimensionsOverall: 25 5/8 in. x 36 3/16 in. (65.09 cm x 91.92 cm)
Credit LineGift of Annie Burr Jennings, Vice Regent for Connecticut, 1936
Object numberW-717/C
DescriptionThe entry of Alexander the Great into Babylon, depicting Alexander standing on a chariot drawn by elephants and going to the left.
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), #406, 94.
MarkingsPritned in ink on the bottom-left corner of the print sheet: "C.L. Brun pinxit". Printed in ink below the bottom-left side of the image: "Thus Virtue Triumphs Gloriously. / Alexander enters Babylon in Triumph admist the shouts and / acclamations of the People." Printed in ink below the image, centered: "Sic Virtus Evehit Ardens. / Alexander Babilonem sibi deditam triumphati cum sublimisinter / Cirium ac mationes et Concenius ingreditux." Printed in ink below the bottom-right side of the image: "Ainsy Par La Vertue Selevent les Heros. / Entree Triumphante d'Alexandre dans Babilone au milieu des concerts de / musique et des acclamations du Peuple."
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.
Estate Hours

Open today from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

iconDirections & Parking
buy tickets online & save