Dr. George A. Pruitt, president of Thomas Edison State University, and Brenda Ross-Dulan, Wells Fargo’s Southern New Jersey regional president, cut the ribbon celebrating the relocation of N.C. Wyeth’s famous painting depicting George Washington’s visit to Trenton in 1789 and commemorating the 225th anniversary of Washington's historic event.
Officials from Wells Fargo and Thomas Edison State University were joined by local historians, city, county and state officials and Mercer County business leaders on Monday, April 21 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the college celebrating the relocation of N.C. Wyeth’s famous painting depicting George Washington’s visit to Trenton in 1789 and commemorating the 225th anniversary of that historic event.
The painting, “Reception to Washington on April 21, 1789, at Trenton on his way to New York to assume the duties of the Presidency of the United States,” is on loan to the college from Wells Fargo. Commissioned in 1930 by First Mechanics Bank, a legacy company of Wells Fargo, the painting was moved to the college in Oct. 2013.
An original letter written by Washington to the “young ladies and matrons” of Trenton, on loan for the afternoon by the Trenton Free Public Library, was also on display at the ceremony. Washington describes in the letter how he was moved by the reception in 1789, which is captured in Wyeth’s painting.
A video featuring Victoria Browning Wyeth, great-granddaughter of N.C. Wyeth was shown at the event, where she discussed the artist's life, the famous painting and N.C. Wyeth's interest in history.
The painting hangs in the main entrance of Thomas Edison State University's main campus building, located at 101 W. State Street in Trenton, N.J. where it can be viewed by visitors during normal business hours.
Toni M. Terry, BA