General Washington's Tomb at Mount Vernon (Copy after Engraving in The Port Folio Magazine, 1810) 1811 - 1816

This watercolor, painted by Pavel Petrovich Svinin around 1810, depicts George Washington’s tomb at Mount Vernon. Svinin, a Russian artist, was likely working from an engraving. The artist has made the most of watercolor's fluid, translucent properties, achieving subtle effects of light and atmosphere. Look at the way washes of color are layered to create the foliage and the sky; this was a painstaking process. But it is the tomb itself which offers an insight into the making of heroes, a kind of 'social construction'. The tomb is solid, built from large, pale blocks, while the door looks like it's made of heavy wood reinforced with iron. Each of these materials is associated with labor. The suggestion is that Washington, like his tomb, is grounded in these values. Ultimately, the artist's labor in rendering this tomb gives enduring form to the idea of leadership, emphasizing the critical connection between what is made and what is believed.