Doolittle, Amos "The Death of General Washington"

After Amos Doolittle (1754-1832).  “The Death of General Washington."  

Philadelphia: Pember & Luzarder, 1800.  Approximately 19 x 21 3/43.  Engraving in brown ink on cotton textile.  Hand sewn rolled hem.  Textile appears to be loosely sewn along the hem, using single long stitches, onto a backing textile.  Entire textile has been stretched and mounted onto a very old 8 ply mat board using copper tacks.  Initials “MLS” have been stitched into textile just below the image.  Numerous old repairs to textile to five of the six cartouches with most repairs in top and bottom cartouches and in bottom of the image just above initials.  Wear and few holes along printed border.  Water stain from bottom of the textile into bottom of image and halfway up right hand side.  Scattered spotting as to be expected.  Else, fine condition.  Very rare.  In 19^th century frame with some separation of bottom miters.  Ref: Threads of History: Americana Recorded on Cloth 1775 to the Present, #21.  Sold as is.  A/A

This rare textile depicts George Washington on his deathbed where he is being attended by Doctors Craik and Dick.  A much distraught Martha Washington sits at the foot of his bed.  The title cartouche includes the following information: "This most illustrious and much lamented Personage died on the 15th of Decr. 1799 in the 68th year of his Age, after a short illness of 30 hours in the full Possession of all his Fame, like a Christian and a Hero, calm and collected, without a groan and without a sigh."  The main image is surrounded by five other cartouches with quotations from Henry Lee’s December 1799 eulogy before Congress. 

This scene is after an engraving by Amos Doolittle (1754-1832) titled “G. Washington in his last Illness attended by Doctors Craik and Brown” published in the same year.  However, the image in the textile was printed in reverse and a woman mourning by his bedside was added to the image as well.  Amos Doolittle is one of the great names in American engraving.  During the American Revolution he was a patriotic printer and engraver and famous for his four-part series on the battles of Lexington and Concord.  He was a prolific engraver for his time and place, but his works are scarce because small runs of publications were normal in the new American republic where most citizens lived on subsistence farms.  The primitive elegance is typical of Doolittle’s work as he strove to emulate the productions of Europe.