"Sacred to the Memory of the Illustrious Champion of Liberty General George Washington" Engraving by John Donlevy, 1840

Presented is a George Washington memorial engraving by John I. Donlevy. Titled “Sacred to the Memory of the Illustrious Champion of Liberty, General George Washington, First President of the United States,” this stipple engraving has a large portrait of Washington at center, surrounded by elaborate calligraphic decoration and text. The engraving was first published in 1838; this is the second state published in 1870.  After Washington’s death in 1799, many engravers and publishers rushed to create prints of Washington’s likeness for the grieving populace. Washington “had played such a central role in the extraordinary events of a quarter century that his death was an event of great emotional consequence in America, affecting the very identity of the nation… In honoring Washington the nation was honoring its own history” (Wick, 70). The memorial prints served to remember Washington for his accomplishments, great vision, and character, and to urge the populace to emulate the traits of th