Apotheosis of George Washington

Heinrich Weishaupt

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The inscription below the image precisely describes the iconography of the scene: Washington is carried to the heavens by Faith and Love, while Hope leads "the way to the seat of bliss." The brightest ray of light emanating from Washington shines down on Columbia and "rays of comfort illuminate the countenance and cheer the bosoms of the Orphan States, dissolving in sorrow at his Tomb."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art