I had never really thought of this before.

Quote:

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The Apotheosis of Washington - literally the "Deification of Washington" which shows the nation's first president sitting among pagan gods - was painted over an 11 month time span at the end of the Civil War.

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Quote:

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George Washington is allegorically represented as being surrounded by figures from classical mythology. Washington is draped in purple, a royal color, with a rainbow arch at his feet, flanked by the goddess Victoria (draped in green, using a horn) to his left and the Goddess of Liberty to his right.

Surrounding Washington, the two goddesses and the 13 maidens are six scenes lining the perimeter, each representing a national concept allegorically: from directly below Washington in the center and moving clockwise:

• "War"
• "Science"
• "Marine"
• "Commerce"
• "Mechanics"
• "Agriculture"

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Or is blasphemy not the right word? Sacrilegious? Pagan?

Pagan? Weird? Trite?

It is definitely wierd and pagan, but pretty common in political art.

Adding in Roman dieties is common. For instance, If you ever visit the palace in Madrid, you will see tons of BIblical art, but if you have a political or more modern figure included (Christopher Colombus comes to mind) Roman goddesses and inspiration abounds. It think, this was a way to deify the monarchy without feeling blasphemous.


JJMT, that's probably because most people are more familiar with their Greek counter parts. Except Columbia (liberty) who is basically the female version of Uncle Sam. (There was a Roman Goddess names Libertas who served as inspiration, but really really really minor)


Roman to Greek:
Minerva - Athena
Neptune - Poseidon
Mercury - Hermes
Vulcan - Hephaestus
Ceres - Demeter


In US history, Washington has just as much infamy and power as any of those Roman gods/goddesses..and in reality, just as much supernatural power.

So, no, not a particularly Christian thing to do, but does show how we were influenced by/descended from monarchies who believed their power was ordained by God, as well as how much influence Roman culture had on Western society long past its fall.

Greenough's Washington statue is just as weird. It intentionally looks like a statue of Zeus.

The really wierd thing about that is that if you suggested a colonial/british person appear in public in a toga, they would probably not be even slightly amused. They wore wigs over their real hair for pete's sake. Appearing in public in less than 3 layers is scandalous!

It's also true that political and artistic inspirations from the Renaissance through the Enlightenment were classical. They consciously tried to link themselves to the ancient pagans, who they saw as more cultured than the people of the Medieval era. Heck, that's why they called it the "Middle Ages," it was the lamentable regressive period between the classical age and the modern age in their minds.

Washington doesn't seem like a toga party guy to me.