George Washington – A Large 19th Century Patinated Terracotta Statuette by Rudolf Uttrecht (1840-1906)

George Washington (1732-1799)

By Rudolf Uttrecht (1840-1906)

Terracotta with bronze patina, marked U & Co to underside.

Rudolf Uffrecht was a German sculptor known for his terracotta portraits of historical figures including politicians, musicians, artists and authors. The eldest son of ceramics manufacturer Jakob Uffrecht, he studied at the Berlin Academy of the Arts, winning prizes for modeling and composition. In the 1860s he started working for his father’s factory, modeling terracotta figures and designing industrial ceramics and during the 1870s travelled to the world exhibition in Vienna whilst touring around Germany, Greece, Italy and Switzerland. He opened his own studio in Rome in the 1880s and in 1891 moved to Florence, returning to Germany in 1895 and finally Berlin from 1897.

His work was highly praised during his lifetime and this figure of the first president of the United States of America demonstrates amply why. Produced around the time of the 100th anniversary of the American Revolution in 1876, the form of the figure closely follows, but not exclusively so, the sculpture of Washington by Joseph Bailly that was installed in 1869 outside the Independence Hall in Philadelphia, U.S.A.. Washington is seen with his right hand resting on the Constitution of the United States, under which the scrolled declaration of Independence can be seen. His left hand clasps a sword which perhaps signifies the struggle which was necessary to achieve those two things as well as indicating his grasp of both truth and freedom.

Uffrecht & Co. produced many smaller busts of Washington but this larger figure is much scarcer and difficult to find.