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Junius Brutus Stearns
Washington as a Farmer at Mount Vernon, 1851
The years surrounding 1849, the fiftieth anniversary of Washington's death, saw new interest in the first American president. A flurry of public and private tributes included an ambitious series of large oil paintings by Junius Stearns, most of them popularized through lithographic prints. The five canvases -- four of which are now in VMFA's collection -- highlight aspects of Washington's life.
Washington as Farmer pictures the retired president inspecting the wheat harvest at his Virginia plantation. Conversing with his overseer, Washington gestures toward several enslaved field workers, while his two adopted grandchildren play nearby. Behind them, a team of horses, one dark and one light, suggests a harmonious system of cooperation. The idealized vision, however, belied the growing national furor over the question of slavery. The Compromise of 1850, a tenuous congressional agreement between North and South, was already unraveling. |