George Washington’s Tomb at Mount Vernon
New England artist William Matthew Prior painted this distinctive view of Mount Vernon, one of a group of at least thirteen, in the mid-nineteenth century. Now generally considered a folk artist, Prior structured the sale of his paintings based on their degree of finish. Prior based his Mount Vernon views on several widely-published engravings after W.H. Brooke featuring the new tomb, old tomb and mansion. This unusual painting combines elements from two substantially different engravings after Brooke with the Birds-Eye View of Mount Vernon chromolithograph published by G. and F. Bill in 1859 after the Mount Vernon Ladies Association acquired the property. The resulting image is an entirely invented landscape, with dual—and dueling—perspectives.
It is glazed, in a gilt wood frame.
Published ReferencesJacquelyn Oak and Gwendolyn Dubois Shaw, Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior Revealed (Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2012), 27-29. (General Reference)
Beatrix Rumford, American Folk Portraits: Paintings and Drawings From the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center (Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1981), 176-182. (General Reference)
Robert Bishop, Folk Painters of America, (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1979), 35, 40, 42. (General Reference)
Patricia Johnston, "William Matthew Prior, Itinerant Portrait Painter." Early American Life (June 1979): 20-23, 66. (General Reference)
Jean Lipman and Alice Winchester, Folk Painters of America (New York: Dodd Mean and Company, 1950), 80-89. (General Reference)
Nina Fletcher Little, "William M. Prior, Traveling Artist, and his In-Laws, the Painting Hamblens." Antiques 53 (January 1948): 44-48. (General Reference)
Grace Adams Lyman, "William M. Prior, “The Painting Garrett Artist”, Antiques 26 (November 1934): 180. (General Reference)
