Lot 1171: Thomas Doney (fl. 1844-1861) after James Duthie (fl. 1848-1861) Fine American and European Furniture, Silver, Folk and Decorative Arts and Clocks

Last Moments of Washington, 1861 Engraving Published by William Pate, 16 Burling Slip, New York 18 x 27 3/8 in. (45.7 x 69.5cm)

45.7 x 69.5cm

: Fraunces Tavern Museum, New York, 1989, The Changing Image of George Washington, cat. no. 66. Stony Brook, NY, the Museums at Stony Brook; Chadds Ford, PA, the Brandywine River Museum; and Lexington, MA, the Museum of Our National Heritage, February 1999 - February 2000, George Washington: American Symbol, cat. no. C15.

By 1861, the date of this engraving, writers and critics had long been calling for truth in historical representations. Washington was no longer standing on his proverbial pedestal, and in our collective imagination, he had become an ordinary American. Just as writers were describing him in human terms, artists were depicting more accurate images of his life as well as his death, portraying him as an ordinary mortal dying in an ordinary bed and not as a god ascending to heaven. Little is known of James Duthie, the designer of the original work that provided the source for this engraving by Thomas Doney. Duthie composed a logical and more accurate interpretation of Washington's death than had been seen earlier in the century. Thomas Doney was a mezzotint engraver of portraits and historical scenes, who came to the United States from France about 1844.