Dublin Core
Title
Description
Washington is depicted as a beneficent gentleman farmer of his Mt. Vernon estate in Virginia, surrounded by a well-ordered operation, its overseer, happy workers, and two children playing in the foreground. The image is part of a five-part series illustrating George Washington in idealized portraits: as farmer; as a statesman at the Constitutional Convention; at his marriage; as a Captain in the French and Indian War; and on his deathbed.
They were created during the volatile antebellum period and deployed mythical images on behalf of slavery. That Washington's workers are slaves--and the overseer and children white--shows how fraught the issue of farm labor was at a national scale. In New York, farmers rejected slavery but still needed hired labor when the scale of agriculture increased.
Note: the original border of this lithograph has been cropped
They were created during the volatile antebellum period and deployed mythical images on behalf of slavery. That Washington's workers are slaves--and the overseer and children white--shows how fraught the issue of farm labor was at a national scale. In New York, farmers rejected slavery but still needed hired labor when the scale of agriculture increased.
Note: the original border of this lithograph has been cropped
Creator
Stearns, Junius Brutus (painting)
Regnier, Claude (lithograph)
Regnier, Claude (lithograph)
Publisher
Date
Contributor
Source
Format
Type
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Lithograph
Physical Dimensions
23 x 17 in.