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View of Mount Vernon
Public Domain

Victor de Grailly

View of Mount Vernon

c. 1840-1850

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Victor de Grailly

View of Mount Vernon

c. 1840-1850

Physical Qualities Oil on canvas, 15 7/8 x 21 1/8 in. (40.3 x 53.7 cm.)
Credit Line Bequest of Elise Agnus Daingerfield
Object Number 1944.101
This scene depicts Mount Vernon—the Virginia plantation house of the first American president, George Washington (1732–1799)— perched high on a mountain overlooking the Potomac River. It is not known whether French artist Victor de Grailly ever visited the United States, but he produced several versions of this view of Mount Vernon, probably after a popular engraving made by English artist William Henry Bartlett (1809–1854). Here, de Grailly added a ninth pillar to the grand portico, inserted additional greenery, and changed low-lying clouds on the horizon into distant mountain peaks. The reproduction of a quintessentially American subject by European artists speaks to the global interest in Washington’s legacy in the 19th century.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest 1944; Elise Carroll Agnus Daingerfield, Baltimore; probably Dr. William Crim, Baltimore (sold 1903)
"Life in America," The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, 1939, no. 40, ill. p. 30

Art in Embassies Program, 1977-1981, no. 50, American Embassy residence, Paris

Government House, Annapolis, 2005-2015.
"Catalogue of the Celebrated Dr. William H. Crim Collection of Genuine Antiques...," The Fourth Regiment Armory, Baltimore, April 22, 1903, no. 2925 (as [one of] 2 Early American Paintings -- View of Mt. Vernon and Companion) [probably]
Sylvia Shipley, "A President's Memorial," "BMA News," vol. 7, no. 9, June 1945, pp. 4-6, ill. p. 5 [attributed to William Henry Bartlett]
William Nathaniel Banks, "The French Painter Victor de Grailly and the production of nineteenth-century American views," "Antiques," vol. 106, no. 1, July 1974, pp. 85, 93, ill. p. 90, pl. II.
Sona K. Johnston, "American Painting 1750-1900 from the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art," 1983, pp. 44-45, ill. p. 44.

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