Washington in His Last Illness

American engravers enjoyed a steady market in the late eighteenth century with the booming demand for illustrations and popular prints. Following the Revolutionary War, George Washington’s status as a national icon spurred the fledgling industry into supplying inexpensive portraits to meet public demand. Washington’s death on December 14, 1799, would prompt an outpouring of oratorical and pictorial tributes. This deathbed scene, which alludes to published accounts of the president’s final moments, shows a physician taking Washington’s pulse with the aid of a stopwatch. Americans purchased souvenir handkerchiefs that featured this image on one side and a complementary mourning picture on the other.