George Washington -- GA State Capitol, Atlanta GA
N 33° 44.923 W 084° 23.312
16S E 741903 N 3737357
A painting of George Washington is on display at the GA State Capitol, in downtown Atlanta GA
Waymark Code: WMWP0F
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 09/24/2017
Views: 0
The waymark coordinates are for the public entry door on the west side of the capitol, since GPS units do not work inside the building.
This painting of George Washington was commissioned by the state of Georgia in 1825. It occupies a place of pride around the first floor rotunda of the Georgia capitol in Atlanta.
From the Georgia Archives: (
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"About this collection
In 1825, Georgia state government commissioned life-size portraits of James Oglethorpe, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Marquis de Lafayette to be displayed in the Milledgeville Capitol. These five paintings became the foundation of an art collection that now numbers close to 300 portraits, sculptures, and other memorials. The completion of the current Capitol building in 1889 led to the acquisition of the majority of our current collection. With little money at the time of building to be used on interior painting or grand murals, portraits became an easy way to embellish the public spaces while honoring individual Georgians. Starting in 1907 with the erection of the equestrian statue of John Brown Gordon, sculptures and plaques began to populate the Capitol grounds.
Without a definitive display plan, artworks were placed wherever there was space on the wall; this led to a crowded unorganized collection by the mid 1990s. During a massive renovation of the Capitol a display plan for the Capitol Art Collection was set into place creating a more aesthetically pleasing space. This meant, however, that many portraits were placed in storage.
This collection is important to the citizens of Georgia. Not only does it represent almost two centuries of American portraiture, it also provides a window on how Georgians in the past choose to honor their leaders and in so doing a glimpse into the values they believed to be most important."