Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Allen C. Browne
Taken: October 19, 2017
Caption: Washington's Last Illness
Additional Description: This 1800 hand water colored etching of “Washington in his last illness attended by Doc.rs Craik and Brown” by an unknown artist hangs in the Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

“American engravers enjoyed a steady market in the late eighteenth century with the booming demand for illustrations and popular prints. Following the Revolutionary War, George Washington’s status as a national icon spurred the fledgling industry into supplying inexpensive portraits to meet public demand. Washington’s death on December 14, 1799, would prompt an outpouring of oratorical and pictorial tributes. This deathbed scene, which alludes to published accounts of the president’s final moments, shows a physician taking Washington’s pulse with the aid of a stopwatch. Americans purchased souvenir handkerchiefs that featured this image on one side and a complementary mourning picture on the other.” – National Portrait Gallery
Submitted: November 2, 2017, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland.
Database Locator Identification Number: p402310
File Size: 1.566 Megabytes

To see the metadata that may be embedded in this photo, sign in and then return to this page.