Washington's Reception by the Ladies on Passing the Bridge at Trenton, N.J., April 1789, on His Way to be Inaugurated First President of the United States

Washington's Reception by the Ladies on Passing the Bridge at Trenton, N.J., April 1789, on His Way to be Inaugurated First President of the United States

Nathaniel Currier

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

George Washington on horseback, accompanied by other gentlemen, is greeted by ladies bearing flowers as he rides over the bridge at Trenton. Banners bear the following inscriptions: "Battle of Trenton, December 26, 1776" "The Defender of the Mothers will be the Proctector of the Daughters."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Washington's Reception by the Ladies on Passing the Bridge at Trenton, N.J., April 1789, on His Way to be Inaugurated First President of the United StatesWashington's Reception by the Ladies on Passing the Bridge at Trenton, N.J., April 1789, on His Way to be Inaugurated First President of the United StatesWashington's Reception by the Ladies on Passing the Bridge at Trenton, N.J., April 1789, on His Way to be Inaugurated First President of the United StatesWashington's Reception by the Ladies on Passing the Bridge at Trenton, N.J., April 1789, on His Way to be Inaugurated First President of the United StatesWashington's Reception by the Ladies on Passing the Bridge at Trenton, N.J., April 1789, on His Way to be Inaugurated First President of the United States

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.