Red Hill, Virginia, Seat of Patrick Henry

What it is

This is a black and white engraving of Red Hill, the seat of Patrick Henry. It shows a two-story frame house with a central door and shuttered windows, set among large trees behind a wooden fence. A small figure stands near the fence, and a dog lies in the grass in the foreground. The print is dated between about 1850 and about 1890. The Commons record credits H.B. Hall, Albert Rosenthal and Max Rosenthal as printmakers and David McNeely Stauffer as draughtsman. The scan was made by the New York Public Library.

Why it matters

Red Hill was the home where Henry lived in his later years, and it is tied to his legal practice. This engraving was made decades after his death in 1799, so it shows how Americans in the nineteenth century pictured a Founding Father's home. Artists and printmakers of that era often made such views to honor national heroes and to keep historic places in public memory.

Look closer

• What details of the house and grounds does the artist choose to show, and what might be left out?
• Who is the small figure near the fence, and what does that person suggest about how the estate was used?
• Why might a print made around 1850 to 1890 be a useful source about Henry's home, and where would its limits lie?