National Numismatic Collection , National Museum of American History , Washington , DC
FIGURE 2 : $ 3 note from the Tecumseh Bank in Tecumseh , MI , circa 1838 ( remainder ).
first to introduce the subject of Hebe and the eagle into bank note engraving . In this rendering ( Figure 4 ), Hebe is seated on a rough stone atop the globe itself , the curve of which can be seen at the left . As in Savage ’ s depiction , this bare-breasted goddess in classical profile also represents American Liberty , as she holds a staff supporting a liberty cap . Durand ’ s choice of subject became a popular conceit . Indeed , at least nine other designs in addition to Hatch ’ s depict this same subject . Of all these depictions of Hebe , however , Hatch ’ s is the only one to dispense entirely with drapery . By depicting Hebe nude , he creates a timeless image of America fit for the ages .
Rawdon ’ s and Hatch ’ s use of cultured narratives conveyed by the classical nude of academic art was intended to demonstrate their firm ’ s sophistication , and their use of complex and elaborate details showed the high quality of the firm ’ s technical expertise . It is only in the last few years , however , that the world of numismatics has recognized that the basis of Rawdon ’ s image is not original to the artist . Like many 19th-century bank note engravers , he borrowed it from elsewhere — in this case , from the 18th-century Irish artist James Barry . In the process , however , Rawdon creatively transformed a European model into a uniquely American iconography .
In 1772 , Barry exhibited at the Royal Academy in London his canvas Venus Rising from the Sea , which is illustrated here by Valentine Green ’ s mezzotint after it ( Figure 5 ). Barry was attempting to recreate his version of a famous painting from antiquity by the celebrated Greek artist Apelles , a work that was known only from the accounts written by classical authors . Apelles ’ s composition , referred to as the Venus Anadyomene , showed the goddess wringing out her luxuriant , wet hair as she emerged from the ocean , having just been born from the seed of a castrated Uranus , which had fallen into the sea ’ s foam . Large aquatic creatures accompany the goddess , and plants spring up where her foot first touches the shore . To the left in the V-shaped clouds , a pair of doves bill and coo in celebration of love and fertility , while on the opposite side sits a
mischievous Cupid , who has just released an arrow that has found its mark in the heart of whomever views the captivating goddess .
The artist intended his work as an idealized rendering of beauty that , lifting the viewer into the heroic realm of platonic forms , would offer a high-minded depiction of the exalted female form . Yet there was always an uneasy relationship between what , on one hand , is the depiction of an idealized nude and , on the other hand , can be experienced more simply as the depiction of a naked woman . It did not help that the genesis of Apelles ’ s original painting was said to have been the immodest actions of a celebrated courtesan : “ Phryne went to bathe at the Eleusinian games [ held near Athens ], exposed to the eyes of all Greece , and rising from the water became the model of Venus Anadyomene .” The name Venus itself was often applied to prostitutes , the line separating sacred love from profane love being all too thin .
In a letter dated May 28 , 1772 , the painter Thomas Gainsborough wittily
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