Great Falls of the Potomac
Label Text
George Washington suggested the two views of the Potomac River depicted in this landscape and its companion piece - one set at Great Falls and the other at present-day Harper's Ferry - as "grand objects" for painting. Both canvases (W-2 and W-3) initially hung in the upstairs drawing room of the executive residence in Philadelphia. After Washington retired from the presidency, they were placed in Mount Vernon's New Room. In full view of the Washingtons' many guests, these dramatic views promoted the beauties and wonders of the natural - and national - scenery of the new United States.
Read MoreRead Less
Date1797
Artist
George Beck
(English, 1749 - 1812)
Retailer
Samuel Salter
Geography
Retailed -
United States
Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall (H x W, framed): 44 in. x 55 1/4 in. (111.76 cm x 140.34 cm)
Other (H x W, canvas): 38 7/8 in. x 50 1/16 in. (98.74 cm x 127.16 cm)
Credit LineGift of Theodore Lyman, Jr., 1885
Object numberW-2
DescriptionHorizontal, rectangular landscape painting depicting waterfalls with large rocky outcropping at their center. River bends at falls, flowing from background right to foreground right. Large tree frames left side. Dark clouds at upper right. Sun shining at left. Relatively high horizon with land sloping down to right.Gilded, rectangular wood frame with mitered corners and cove-molded faces with applied composition ornament, including a string of small beads or pearls, leaves and medallions, and a braided design.
Published ReferencesJoseph Manca, George Washington's Eye: Landscape, Architecture, and Design at Mount Vernon (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012), 168-171.
James C. Kelly and William M. S. Rasmussen, The Virginia Landscape: A Cultural History (Charlottesville, VA: Howell Press, 2000), 50.
William M.S. Rasmussen and Robert S. Tilton, George Washington: The Man Behind The Myths (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 102-103, 185.
Wendell Garrett, ed., George Washington's Mount Vernon (New York: The Monacelli Press, 1998), 182.
William Barrow Floyd, "The Portraits and Paintings at Mount Vernon from 1754-1799: Part 2," The Magazine Antiques (December 1971): 897.
James Thomas Flexner, The Light of Distant Skies (New York: Dover, 1969), 118.
Edna Talbott Whitley, "George Beck: An Eighteenth Century Painter," The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 67, no. 1 (January 1969): 30.
J. Hall Pleasants, "Four Late Eighteenth Century Anglo-American Landscape Painters," reprinted from the Proceedings of American Antiquarian Society (Worcester, MA: American Antiquarian Society, 1943), 15, 25-26.
Stephen Decatur, "George Washington and His Presidential Furniture," American Collector (February 1941): 15.
William Macpherson Hornor, Jr., Blue Book of Philadephia Furniture (Philadelphia: 1935), 287.
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.
c. 1796
1705-1750
c. 1867-1899
![View of the North [Hudson] River (Morning)
Artist: William Winstanley
Oil on canvas
c. 1793](/internal/media/dispatcher/15741/thumbnail)
![View of the North [Hudson}] River (Evening)
Artist: William Winstanley
Oil on canvas
c. 179 ...](/internal/media/dispatcher/15739/thumbnail)
c. 1839
1768-1770
