Looking around the University’s campuses, one is hard-pressed to find a statue or plaque or bas-relief of the University’s namesake, George Washington.
That’s because none exists. But that’s about to change.
As part of the recognition of the University’s Sesquicentennial, a statue of George Washington will be placed in the circular, patio/terrace area on the south side of newly renovated Olin Library.
The statue will be dedicated May 7, coinciding with the rededication of the library.
WUSTL’s statue will be a reproduction of one that stands in the rotunda of the Virginia Capitol in Richmond. This original work, sculpted by Jean-Antoine Houdon from 1785-88, is the only full-length statue made of Washington while he was living.
It is made of Carrara marble, whereas the University’s copy will be cast in bronze.
In the middle of the 19th century, Virginia authorized several plaster casts made of the statue. Paul King Foundry Inc. in Johnson, R.I., still had one and had never used it.
The University contacted the foundry and made a deal to make a cast of the statue.
It presents Washington standing tall, head uncovered, a cane in his right hand but his sword to one side — representing in device what Washington had expressed in his reply to the address of the General Assembly of Virginia: the subordination of military to civil authority.
Washington’s left hand rests on a fasces — a bundle of rods with a projecting ax blade — borne before ancient Roman magistrates as a badge of authority, power and honor.
A plowshare is by Washington’s side and represents the nurture of the land in a pre-industrial era.
The original statue was exhibited at the Louvre in Paris before being shipped to the United States in May 1796.
The Hilltop Campus statue will stand upon a base, which will have an inscription on the front featuring a brief history of the statue; the other three sides will each feature an inscription taken from Washington’s first message to Congress in 1790.
The inscriptions are: ” … there is nothing which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of science and literature … “; “Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness”; and ” … every valuable end of government is best answered by the enlightened confidence of the people and by teaching the people themselves to know and to value their own rights. … ”