American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts

Henry Merwin Shrady was a mostly self-taught artist who came to prominence during the American sculptural renaissance of the Beaux-Arts period. He developed an interest in equine anatomy and turned his initial studies of movement and musculature into sculptural models of horses and riders. His early animalier bronzes were met with praise and enthusiasm and helped propel him to his success as a monumental sculptor. In 1901, Shrady was invited to enter a competition for an equestrian statue of George Washington at Valley Forge. He won the competition, and the monument was dedicated in 1906 in Brooklyn, New York at the entrance to the Williamsburg Bridge. George Washington at Valley Forge depicts the commander-in-chief, mounted atop his horse, wearing a Continental uniform over which a heavy cloak with deep folds is draped. Washington and his horse lower their heads in unison as they anticipate the gravity of the long and brutal winter ahead for the commander and his troops at Valley Forge. Shrady masterfully captures the somber mood of the moment. The work is elegant and moving. Additional casts of Shrady’s George Washington at Valley Forge are included in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Henry M. Flagler Museum, Palm Beach, Florida, and the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma. (For more information, see Henry Merwin Shrady, Biography, National Gallery of Art (nga.gov).