George Washington's Eye: Landscape, Architecture, and Design at Mount Vernon

342 Pages·2012·23.163 MB·English

by  Joseph Manca

george washington’s eye

George Washington’s Eye
Landscape, Architecture, and Design at Mount Vernon
J M
OSEPH ANCA
the johns hopkins university press baltimore
© 2012 The Johns Hopkins University Press Frontispiece: Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Sketch of General Washington
All rights reserved. Published 2012 Stolen at Mount Vernon while he was looking to discover a distant Vessel in
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper the Potowmac, in which he expected some of his fr iends fr om Alexandria,
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1796, pen and ink on paper. Courtesy of Th e Maryland Historical Society
(MS 523).
The Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street Special discounts are available for bulk purchases of this book. For more
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363 information, please contact Special Sales at 410-516-6936 or specialsales
www.press.jhu.edu @press.jhu.edu.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Johns Hopkins University Press uses environmentally friendly book
materials, including recycled text paper that is composed of at least 30
Manca, Joseph, 1956– percent post-consumer waste, whenever possible.
George Washington’s eye : landscape, architecture, and design at
Mount Vernon / Joseph Manca.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4214-0432-5 (hdbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4214-
0561-2 (electronic)—ISBN 1-4214-0432-X (hdbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN
1-4214-0561-X (electronic)
1. Washington, George, 1732–1799—Aesthetics. 2. Mount Vernon
(Va. : Estate) I. Washington, George, 1732–1799. II. Title.
III. Title: Landscape, architecture, and design at Mount Vernon.
NA737.W37M36 2012
711(cid:2).409755291—dc23 2011044973
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
contents
Preface vii
1 George Washington: Morality and the Craft ing of Self 1
2 The Mansion House at Mount Vernon and Other Architectural Designs 14
3 George Washington’s Portico 56
4 Washington as Gardener: Creating the Landscape 83
5 Mount Vernon and British Gardening 119
6 Prospects, Pictures, and the Picturesque 148
7 Washington as Artist, Critic, Patron, and Collector 176
8 Under His Vine and Fig Tree: Biblical and Classical Perfection at Mount Vernon 222
Epilogue 243
Notes 247
Index 293
Color plates follow pages 92 and 180.
This page intentionally left blank
preface
This is a book about George Washington’s eye for art and how he shaped the aesthetic world
around him at Mount Vernon. He designed the expansions of his mansion house, provided
plans for other buildings on his estate, and laid out and beautifi ed elaborate gardens. He and
Martha Washington fi lled their house at Mount Vernon with fi ne and decorative art. George
Washington was keenly aware of the social and symbolic importance of his visual and mate-
rial world, and although we are not concerned here in detail with Washington as military
leader, legislator, agriculturalist, or president of the United States, his aesthetic activity oc-
curred within the context of his life and historical era. Artistic issues for Washington were
inextricably linked with moral and social concerns. The Mount Vernon estate was Washing-
ton’s public face, and his artistic decisions there must be seen against the backdrop of his
personality, moral beliefs, and unique place in eighteenth-century American society.
George Washington was deeply interested in art, architecture, and landscape gardening,
and I hope that this book shows the breadth and depth of Washington’s artistic creations and
interests. He was a leading landscape gardener of his time and was the author of a fairly exten-
sive architectural oeuvre. Washington stood in the forefront among American collectors of
landscape art, and along the way he developed a good eye for style in paintings and prints. We
need to reassess his place in early American intellectual life; the chapters that follow off er a
glimpse into one part of his contributions to early American culture.
A study of George Washington is rewarding, as his life and art are well documented, and
his aesthetic endeavors are in large part preserved and presented at Mount Vernon today.
Washington’s actions were broadly consistent with those of other men of the social elite in
eighteenth-century America, and at one level he serves as an example of an upper-class
Americ an patron: he built a large, stylish home, taking a leading role in determining its size
and appearance; collected and displayed fi ne and decorative arts; developed beautiful gar-
dens around his mansion house; and did it all with an awareness of his social position and
how he would be perceived by others. But while there were other elite Americans and other
wealthy Tidewater planters, there was only one George Washington, and his situation stands
as a special case. He lived a large life and garnered an extraordinary amount of public atten-
tion, and he made a special eff ort to have his estate proclaim his own virtues and those of the
new nation he helped to establish.
Washington’s artistic interests were varied, but one is struck by his extraordinary under-
viii ’ Preface
standing of landscape, in the broadest sense. He apologized of the art collection in Washington’s home, and Susan Det-
for his lack of knowledge of architecture, he was modest weiler’s George Washington’s Chinaware throws light on his
about his art collection, he feigned reluctance to sit for por- acquisition and display of porcelain. A number of books and
traitists, he claimed no knowledge of poetry or music, and in exhibitions, including works by Wendy Wick (George Wash-
his orders for furniture and other decorative arts he tended ington, American Icon, with an introduction by Lillian Mil-
to rely on current or accepted taste. In the sphere of land- ler) and Hugh Howard (The Painter’s Chair), have explored
scape gardening, though, he was lord and master. He worked the portraits of Washington and the vital role of his imagery
for years at his designs, and he had the will, the knowledge, in the context of Revolutionary and early national America.
the land, the fi nancial means, and the hired and enforced My task would have been diffi cult without one of the great
laborers to achieve what few others in America could ac- scholarly projects of our time, namely, the ongoing publica-
complish. Lucky enough to have inherited an ideal site high tion of the George Washington Papers by the University
on a broad river, he used this good fortune to advantage. of Virginia, a project that has online and searchable texts.
The view of lawns, trees, and water that he created from the Any scholar who works on George Washington stands on
portico of his house is one of the great American works of the shoulders of others and shares the company of many
art, a living canvas of space, color, and light. In the sphere of who have explored a complex person and his rich historical
shaping nature he was unsurpassed in eighteenth-century context.
America, and the theme of landscape runs throughout his Many people and institutions aided this project. I am
life. He measured nature as a young surveyor and later shaped grateful to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association for their
and adorned it, creating beautiful farms, setting his house continued eff orts to present Mount Vernon to the public
to take perfect advantage of the prospects of forests and and for providing fi ne research facilities that are so useful for
water, and carving vistas through the woods. He collected scholars of early American history. I am especially indebted
and displayed two-dimensional landscape art, had his house to the work of Mount Vernon’s curators, archaeologists, ar-
ornamented with stucco work of farm implements and fl ora, chivists, and librarians, past and present, who have gathered
and wrote to others about the natural setting of his estate and disseminated information on George Washington’s life
and his happy place in it. Like the theme of moral action and and activities. Of these, I have received assistance from Jill
reputation, issues of landscape form a leitmotif throughout Dewitt, John Gibbs, Justin Gunther, Shandel Johnson, Chris-
this book. tina Keyser, Jennifer Kittlaus, Dean Norton, Jordan Poole,
There is a large bibliography on Washington, much of it and Emily Shapiro. I especially want to thank Mount Ver-
dealing with issues concerning the architecture of Mount non’s Dawn Bonner, who was instrumental in gathering and
Vernon and its gardens and collection, and I am deeply in- sending me images and information needed for captions.
debted to this previous scholarship. Robert Dalzell Jr. and Joan Stahl frequently helped me fi nd research material in
Lee Baldwin Dalzell’s George Washington’s Mount Vernon Mount Vernon’s library. Esther White and Dennis Pogue
and Allan Greenberg’s George Washington, Architect provide discussed with me discoveries related to the buildings and
in-depth information about Washington’s architectural de- gardens at Mount Vernon. Historian Mary Thompson shared
signs. There have been several useful studies of the gardens, ideas related to the history and context of the Mount Ver-
including Mac Griswold’s Washington’s Gardens at Mount non estate. Curators Carol Borchert Cadou and Laura Simo
Vernon. Carol Borchert Cadou’s excellent recent volume, The discussed with me the collections at Mount Vernon and
George Washington Collection, discusses many fi ne examples made object fi les accessible.
Preface ’ ix
Others who have provided information or help useful for of the Huntington Library; and Lael White of the Colonial
this project include Steve Bashore of Stratford Hall; Nicole Williamsburg Foundation.
Bouché of the University of Virginia; Cary Carson of the Jet Prendeville of the Brown Fine Arts Library at Rice
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; Abbott Lowell Cum- University was always helpful. Andrew Taylor and Kelley
mings, emeritus of Yale University and the SPNEA; Susan Vernon of the Visual Resources Center of the Department
Drinan of the Philadelphia History Museum; Lorelei Eurto of Art History at Rice University helped produce or edit a
of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute; Katherine number of the illustrations in this book. I received research
Gardner of Washington and Lee University; Ana Guima- assistance from several Rice students who held fellowships
raes and Laura Linke of the Cornell University Library; from Rice University’s Humanities Research Center; these
Paul Johnson of the National Archives (UK); Annika Keller included Mary Draper, Kay Fukui, Sandra Marcatili, and
of Art Resource; Bruce Kirby of the Library of Congress; Claire O’Connor. I am grateful to Rice University’s Human-
Carl Lounsbury of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation ities Research Center for providing an individual faculty fel-
and the College of William and Mary; Christine Waller lowship in the fall of 2009, and I appreciate the support
Manca of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Marianne from the center’s director, Caroline Levander.
Martin of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; Marga- I am especially grateful to Robert J. Brugger of the Johns
ret McKee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Del Moore Hopkins University Press for his support of my project
of the Rockefeller Library; Kathleen Mylen-Coulombe of and for seeing the editorial process through from begin-
the Yale University Art Gallery; Marilyn Palmeri of the ning to end. I benefi ted from his advice and suggestions, as
Mor gan Library and Museum; Dana Puga and Christopher I also gained from the anonymous readings of my manu-
Kolbe of the Library of Virginia; Albert Small, Washington, script. I also wish to thank Kara Reiter, Julie McCarthy,
DC, and Barbara De Santi Pappas for help in providing the and Courtney Bond at the Press for their help, and I am
image of the drawing from Mr. Small’s collection; Jennifer grateful to Julia Smith for her skillful copyediting of the
Stertzer of the Maryland Historical Society; Olga Tsapina manuscript.