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View of the triumphal Arch and Colonnade erected in Boston in honor of the President of the United States, Oct. 24, 1789
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[ This description is from the project: Witness to America's Past ]
This arch was handsomely ornamented, and over the Center of it a Canopy was erected 20 feet high, with the American Eagle perched on the top.
Thus wrote an impressed George Washington on the edifice in his diary upon visiting Boston in October 1789.
The triumphal Arch was designed by Charles Bulfinch after one he had seen in Milan three years earlier. (Footnote 1) Eighteen feet high and twenty-one feet across, the triumphal arch dominates this engraving of the scene by Samuel Hill. Decorated with Ionic pilasters and rusticated to resemble stone work, the temporary structure was replete with national symbolism. Thirteen blue stars painted across the entablature represented the states of the Union. This in turn supported an interlaced balustrade which was inscribed on one side: "TO THE MAN WHO UNITES ALL HEARTS; and on the other: TO COLUMBIA'S FAVORITE SON." A large panel contained the arms of the United States, together with those of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and of France, above the motto "Boston relieved March 17th, 1776" was inscribed in a laurel wreath. (Footnote 2)
Also evident in the engraving is a colonnade in front of the west facade of the State House. Composed of six fifteen-foot columns, this structure was the work of Thomas Dawes (1731-1809), a craftsman-builder and civic leader. According to a contemporary account, the balustrade was hung with Persian carpets covered with thirteen roses. Above the colonnade, the female figure evident in the engraving represents Fortune. (Footnote 3)
Samuel Hill, a self-taught artist, was active in Boston during the years 1789-1803. He was the principal engraver for Massachusetts Magazine during its six years of publication (1789-1794). His View of the Triumphal Arch, like many of his engravings, was made from his own drawings. Although lacking sophistication, his work shows a great attention to detail and a close observation of his contemporary world. Hill also engraved book illustrations and some certificates, and was one of several engravers who worked on the Map of Massachusetts Proper (1801-1802). (Footnote 4) He was in New York in 1803, but unfortunately no further details have been recorded about his life.
Footnotes
1. Kirker, Harold, and James Kirker. Bulfinch's Boston, 1787-1817. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964, p. 102
2. Washington, George. The Diaries of George Washington, 1748-1799. John C. Fitzpatrick, ed. 4 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1925, p. 34
3. Cummings, Abbott Lowell. "A Recently Discovered Engraving of the Old State House in Boston." Boston Prints and Printmakers, 1670-1775. Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts 46 (1973), pp. 174-184; and Rothschild, Lincoln. "A Triumphal Arch by Charles Bulfinch." Old-Time New England 29 (1939), p. 161-162.
4. Parker, Peter J., and Stefanie Munsing Winkelbauer. "Embellishments for Practical Repositories: Eighteenth-Century American Magazine Illustration." In Eighteenth-Century Prints in Colonial America: To Educate and Decorate. Joan D. Dolmetsch, ed. Williamsburg: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1979, p. 71-97.