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General Washington's Resignation

1799
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 758
On March 4, 1797, Washington voluntarily stepped down after two terms as the first president of the United States. This image reproduces a life-size composition that Charles Willson Peale painted to adorn a public dinner held in Philadelphia honoring the retirement. An allegorical figure of America holds the letter of resignation over discarded emblems of power. The honoree gestures toward his estate at Mount Vernon and stands near an "altar of public gratitude" and "temple of fame." Washington’s selfless departure from office led contemporaries to compare him to Cincinnatus, an ancient Roman general who rejected absolute power to return to his farm.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: General Washington's Resignation
  • Artist: Alexander Lawson (American, born Lanark, Scotland 1773–1846 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
  • Artist: After John James Barralet (Irish, Dublin ca. 1747–1815 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
  • Publisher: Benjamin Davies (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
  • Sitter: George Washington (American, 1732–1799)
  • Published in: Philadelphia
  • Date: 1799
  • Medium: Engraving and etching; second state
  • Dimensions: Image: 6 in. × 3 3/4 in. (15.3 × 9.5 cm)
    Sheet: 8 1/16 × 4 7/8 in. (20.5 × 12.4 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Charles Allen Munn, 1924
  • Object Number: 24.90.90
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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