Artist: Hiram Powers 

Date: carved after 1844

Dimensions: 78.7 x 58.4 x 35.6 cm

Medium: Marble

Institutional Accreditation: Metropolitan Museum of Art

This marble bust of Washington was made after the American Revolution and a century after Washington’s death. Hiram Powers based this artwork on a bust created by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon. This bust shows Washington to be dressed in classical attire, which he never wore, but this incorporation of classical Greek apparel is an example of Neoclassicism. Washington is also not shown to be embellished; Powers does this because he wants to instill the Roman Republic virtues of restraint and rationality in this bust. Powers also incorporated realism through Washington’s aging features, the slack jawline, and ponytail.

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