The Prayer at Valley Forge

Arnold Friberg

The Prayer at Valley Forge

Oil on canvas

45” x 72”

1975

Arnold Friberg(1913-2010) was an American illustrator and painter who is best known for his religious and patriotic works.  His painting, “The Prayer at Valley Forge”  is one of his most popular and well known paintings.  He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his paintings of Cecil B Demille for the film “The Ten Commandments”.  In most paintings and sculptures we see Washington as something of a super human being.  He carried this nation on his back and led men in battle after battle.  As a general he could have stayed nice and warm in his tent or home, but George Washington would have none of that.  He was out there freezing with his men every single night.  This painting shows General George Washington as a man, on his knees pleading with the Lord.  That is the man who is the Father of our nation.  A humble god fearing man, not a super hero. 

Arnold Friberg said of this piece, “What I really tried for, through the medium of paint, was to recall the pain, and the cold of that cruel winter of 1777-78.  I sought to pay tribute to the tall and heavy-burdoned man who held our struggling nation together.”