Footnotes

Provenance
Leonard A. Lombardo (1910-1991), New York.
Private collection, New York, gift from the above, circa 1970s.
Gift from the above to the present owner.

Literature
"Committee Agreed on Howe Statue: Equestrian Model of Washington Accepted, but Site Not Yet Selected, Sculptor is Henry M. Shrady," The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 2, 1901, vol. 61, no. 212, p. 6, sketch model illustrated.
"Sculptor Selected for Howe's Statue: Henry Merwin Shrady to Model the Equestrian of Washington for Brooklyn, Shows Him at Valley Forge," The Brooklyn Daily Times, August 2, 1901, p. 1, sketch model illustrated.
"A Statue of Washington: H.M. Shrady to Execute Register Howe's Gift to Brooklyn," The New York Times, August 3, 1901, vol. L, no. 16,091, p. 6, sketch model listed.
C. de Kay, "Henry Merwin Shrady's Washington for Brooklyn: Equestrian Statue of the Father of His Country at Valley Forge for the Williamsburg Bridge Approach," The New York Times, October 1, 1905, vol. LV, no. 17,417, pt. 3, magazine section, p. 6, another example illustrated.
P.J. Broder, Bronzes of the American West, New York, 1974, p. 241, another example listed. (as Washington at Valley Forge)
L.I. Sharp, New York City Public Sculpture by 19th-Century American Artists, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1974, pp. 18-19, no. 5, another example illustrated.
L.I. Sharp, "American Paintings and Sculpture," The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1965-1975, New York, 1975, p. 18, another example illustrated.
M. Botwinick, R.G. Wilson, D.H. Pilgrim, R.N. Murray, The American Renaissance: 1876-1917, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1979, p. 228, no. 268, another example illustrated.
D.M. Reynolds, Monuments and Masterpieces: Histories and Views of Public Sculpture in New York City, New York, 1988, pp. 128-29, another example illustrated.
Museum of the City of New York, Celebrating George, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1989, n.p., no. 25, another example listed.
D.J. Hassler, J.M. Marter, J.L. Thompson, T. Tolles, American Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Volume II. A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born between 1865 and 1886, New York, 2001, pp. 544, 547-48, no. 245, another example illustrated.

In George Washington at Valley Forge, Henry Merwin Shrady depicts America's venerable Commander-in-Chief mounted on his horse and dressed in Continental uniform. The somber expression of Washington, the heavy cloak with a high collar that envelops him, and the lowered head of the horse evoke the severe, windy conditions of the bleak winter of 1777-78, when Washington and his troops were bivouacked at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania nearly twenty miles north of Philadelphia. One can imagine Shrady's George Washington gazing into the distance observing his men as they train or keeping a watchful eye over the British. Washington settled his winter encampment comprised of 11,000 men, and approximately 500 women and children, in Valley Forge for it's natural qualities as a fortress. The grounds sat high on a plateau on the top of a series of hills that protected it and the amble grounds allowed Washington to continuously train his men. Valley Forge was also ideal for it's close proximity to the occupied capital of Philadelphia, so the Continental Army could guard the settlements in the countryside outside Philadelphia against attacks by the British.

In 1901, a selection committee for a monument of George Washington saw Shrady's riderless cavalry horse depicted in The Empty Saddle at the showroom of New York Jeweler Theodore B. Starr, and subsequently invited Shrady to enter a submission into the competition. The monument was intended as a gift to the City of New York by James Robinson Howe (1839-1914) who campaigned for elective office of Register of the Kings County (New York) Committee of Supervision and Construction. (D.J. Hassler, J.M. Marter, J.L. Thompson, T. Tolles, American Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Volume II. A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born between 1865 and 1886, New York, 2001, p. 547)

Shrady submitted two sketch models of the monument depicting Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the harsh winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge, one of which was selected as the winning submission. In December 1905, Shrady's maquette was approved by the Art Commission of the City of New York and subsequently, the architectural design for the monument was awarded to the firm of Lord and Hewlett of New York. While Shrady was working on George Washington at Valley Forge at his farm near Elmsford, New York, he sought critique from Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907), who reviewed photographs of the work while it was in progress and wrote, "I congratulate you on the lines, sentiment and character of the group, it is admirable from every point of view." (as quoted in American Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Volume II. A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born between 1865 and 1886, 2001, p. 547) Once completed, the sculpture was mounted and unveiled on September 29, 1906 at the Brooklyn Plaza of the Williamsburg Bridge (now Continental Army Plaza) to a celebratory crowd of nearly 15,000, with another 5,000 that marched in the parade as part of the ceremony. A replica of the monument was produced for Kansas City, Missouri, where it was dedicated in Washington Square Park on November 11, 1925.