A three-storied, white manor house with a rust-red roof and wings extending off both sides sits across an emerald-green lawn lined with tall, sage and dark green trees in this horizontal painting. Straw-brown paths lead to the house from either side of the lawn, where they meet an oval-shaped path directly in front of the house. The grassy area inside the oval is cordoned off with posts and weighted chains. Closer to us, three men, two women, and a gray dog stand on the lawn. Two of the men wear uniforms with navy-blue, button-lined jackets with golden yellow epaulets and collars, dark, tricorn hats, and butter-yellow britches over black, knee-high boots. The third man wears a brown suit with a white collar. Both the women wear white dresses. One has a sky-blue sash around her waist and the other has a black shawl wrapped across her torso, and wears a white bonnet. Two light-skinned people, perhaps a man and a child, walk along the path to our left, wearing gray suits. Four people closer to the house have brown skin. One of them, a woman, stands at the front center of the oval path and other three men approach a door in the wing to our left. One of that trio carries a shovel over his shoulder, one a rake, and the other a staff. A carriage guided by a seated horseman and pulled by four horses enters the scene from our right. To our left and right, covered walkways connect the main house to the side wings. The wing to our right is mostly hidden by trees and cut off by the right edge of the painting. The wing to our left has a teal-blue roof, red brick chimneys, and the same white walls as the manor. The main house has a triangular pediment over the front door and chimneys to each side of the red roof. A spire-like lantern is at the center of the roofline, over the pediment. Faint, wispy white clouds billow against the azure-blue sky above. Centered at the bottom of the scene across a white margin are the words, “A VIEW OF MOUNT.VERNON THE SEAT OF GENERAL WASHINGTON.”

A View of Mount Vernon

American 18th Century

A three-storied, white manor house with a rust-red roof and wings extending off both sides sits across an emerald-green lawn lined with tall, sage and dark green trees in this horizontal painting. Straw-brown paths lead to the house from either side of the lawn, where they meet an oval-shaped path directly in front of the house. The grassy area inside the oval is cordoned off with posts and weighted chains. Closer to us, three men, two women, and a gray dog stand on the lawn. Two of the men wear uniforms with navy-blue, button-lined jackets with golden yellow epaulets and collars, dark, tricorn hats, and butter-yellow britches over black, knee-high boots. The third man wears a brown suit with a white collar. Both the women wear white dresses. One has a sky-blue sash around her waist and the other has a black shawl wrapped across her torso, and wears a white bonnet. Two light-skinned people, perhaps a man and a child, walk along the path to our left, wearing gray suits. Four people closer to the house have brown skin. One of them, a woman, stands at the front center of the oval path and other three men approach a door in the wing to our left. One of that trio carries a shovel over his shoulder, one a rake, and the other a staff. A carriage guided by a seated horseman and pulled by four horses enters the scene from our right. To our left and right, covered walkways connect the main house to the side wings. The wing to our right is mostly hidden by trees and cut off by the right edge of the painting. The wing to our left has a teal-blue roof, red brick chimneys, and the same white walls as the manor. The main house has a triangular pediment over the front door and chimneys to each side of the red roof. A spire-like lantern is at the center of the roofline, over the pediment. Faint, wispy white clouds billow against the azure-blue sky above. Centered at the bottom of the scene across a white margin are the words, “A VIEW OF MOUNT.VERNON THE SEAT OF GENERAL WASHINGTON.”

Colors in this work

Details
Artist
American 18th Century
Date
1792 or after
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
image: 58.4 x 89.2 cm (23 x 35 1/8 in.) unframed (entire fireboard): 95.3 x 109.5 cm (37 1/2 x 43 1/8 in.)
Department
CAB
Holding institution
National Gallery of Art
Palette

Select a color to find related artworks.

Image provider
national-gallery-of-art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch

Art Genome Taxonomy

12 tags

Subject Matter

  • Landscapes Visual · 97%

    The composition depicts an expansive lawn, paths, trees, sky, and the grounds of a country estate.

  • Architecture's Effects Visual · 83%

    The large manor house, attached wings, covered walkways, cupola, and formally organized grounds dominate the view.

  • Human Figure Visual · 96%

    Several human figures are distributed across the foreground and middle ground, including formally dressed figures and figures carrying tools near the left wing.

  • Modes of Transportation Visual · 98%

    A horse-drawn carriage with a seated driver enters from the right side of the scene.

  • Animals Visual · 98%

    The scene includes several horses pulling the carriage and a small gray dog in the foreground.

  • Text Both · 99%

    A large identifying inscription is visible across the lower margin and is transcribed in the museum metadata as “A VIEW OF MOUNT.VERNON THE SEAT OF GENERAL WASHINGTON.”

Visual Qualities

  • Symmetrical Visual · 85%

    The manor's front façade is organized around a central entrance and cupola with a near-symmetrical arrangement of windows and roof elements; the surrounding composition is also balanced by the framing trees and paths.

  • Cracked Visual · 94%

    Extensive fine craquelure is visible across the painted surface and the lower caption margin.

Medium and Techniques

  • Painting Both · 99%

    The National Gallery of Art classifies the work as a painting, and the image visibly shows a painted scene on canvas.

  • Oil Painting Metadata · 99%

    The catalog identifies the medium as oil on canvas.

  • Frontal Perspective Visual · 84%

    The main façade is presented in an almost frontal view, with the viewer looking across the grounds toward the house.

Geographic Regions

  • American Art Metadata · 95%

    The catalog labels the artist as “American 18th Century,” supporting classification within American art without assigning a named artist.

Source & rights

American 18th Century. A View of Mount Vernon. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.

High-resolution sources

Catalog record ↗ Image source ↗ Image license ↗ Image-use terms ↗ Catalog metadata terms ↗

Related

Loading related artworks…