Lot 2128 Dα

This work by the Stuttgart based history painter Philipp Friedrich Hetsch represents an allegorical depiction of George Washington's entry into Trenton on 21st April 1789 on his way to New York to take up office as the President of the United States. Trenton was a place of considerable significance for George Washington and for American history as a whole, as it was there that an important victory in the War of Independence was won under his leadership on December 26th 1776.
The personification of painting on the right is shown sketching a portrait of Washington in profile, whilst the personification of music holds a score in her hands inscribed "Trenton 21. Ap. 1789". Above them, we see the group of the three Fates painted by Hetsch's fellow Stuttgart painter Johann Heinrich Dannecker and a column bearing George Washington's name. An identical second version of this painting signed by Philipp Friedrich Hetsch and dated 1793 is housed in the Museum Georg Schäfer in Schweinfurt (inv. no. MGS 2902, 109 x 88 cm).