The marble statue of George Washington by Horatio Greenough is very Neoclassical. Commissioned in 1832 by the U.S. Congress to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Washington’s birthday and completed in 1940, he sits reminiscent of The Statue of Zeus at Olympia in a toga and sandals with a sword. The sword, seen in his left hand, symbolizes leading the country to victory in the American Revolution and subsequently relinquishing power to the people. Washington’s figure sits solidly with precise lines and angles. The intention was for him to appear as dignified and powerful as the god Zeus, though some found his exposed chest to be inappropriate. It was common for neoclassicism to combine the contemporary historical events of the period with
