inscribed "Houdon 1778" on the right shoulder, mounted on an alabaster socle
20 in. high

With the end of the Revolutionary War, the newly free United States sought to memorialize its heroes, none more revered than General George Washington. Nine months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the Virginia General Assembly voted to commission a marble statue of Washington that "would be of the finest marble and best workmanship." Virginia governor Benjamin Harrison delegated the responsibility for the artist's selection to Ambassador to France Thomas Jefferson, and together with Benjamin Franklin, the decision was made to offer the commission to sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon. Though furnished with a drawing of Washington by Charles Willson Peale, Houdon decided to travel to Mount Vernon himself to ensure the perfect accuracy of his work.

Houdon and three assistants arrived at Washington's home in early October 1785 and spent weeks measuring Washington's arms, legs, hands, and chest, and creating a life mask from which to work. Afterwards, Houdon returned to Paris, where he completed the life-sized statue of Washington, which now stands in the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, as well as a bust of Washington, which presents the future president in a far more reflective and thoughtful light.