SEARCH FOR AH APPROPRIATE RESTING PLACE FOR THE GREENOUGH 
STATUE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
The pathetic story of the colossal statue of George 
Washington, by Horatio Greenough, is given in all available 
detail in Fairman's valuable work "Art and Artists of the 
Capitol of the United States of America." This great 
work was executed by Horatio Greenough, American sculptor, 
in Florence, Italy, 1832-40 and reached Washington July 31, 
1841. It had a cold reception officially in Washington 
and also by the country generally, and was spoken of by some 
as the Father of his Country "without a shirt” and in other 
equally derisive language. It remained practically an 
outcast for nearly 70 years being installed in turn in the 
Capitol building, where the floor would not support it, and 
in the Capitol grounds. Finally it was found to be suffer- 
ing seriously from exposure to the elements, and the question 
of its preservation was f-fertstlly referred to the Secretary of 
the Smithsonian Institution and, as Curator of the National 
Gallery of Art, I was asked to find a place for it. After go- 
ing into the matter quite thoroughly, I reported that the 
Chapel of the Smithsonian Institution, not at the time serving 
any important purpose, came nearest an ideal situation - digni- 
fied yet unobtrusive, where visitors to the Institution could 
view it without feeling that it was forced upon their atten- 
tion. 
