When George Washington died on December 11, 1799, the entire nation mourned the loss of the man who had served his country as Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary army and as the country’s first president. This 1801 engraving by Thomas Clarke of Boston, Massachusetts, depicts three mourners to the left of an obelisk embellished with a bust of Washington. To the right is a weeping willow, a classical symbol of grief. Lettering along the bottom edge reads: “Sacred to the Memory of the Illustrious G. Washington.”