Not everyone sees the same thing when they look at an image. A picture of George Washington praying might seem unremarkable to some. To others, it's a powerful statement about how the United States was founded as a Christian nation.
The image is a favorite of President Trump's administration; it has shown up in social media posts from the Defense Department, the Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security, on a White House page and even for sale on a federal government website celebrating America's 250th anniversary.
All are based on a 1975 oil painting by Arnold Friberg on display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. Large and imposing, "The Prayer at Valley Forge" recently attracted the attention of visitor Rhonda Bolash, visiting from Fort Worth, Texas
"It's beautiful," she says. "George Washington kneeling, praying to our Lord. And you can just see he's asking for help. It's amazing."
According to the museum's wall text: "'The Prayer at Valley Forge' is a poignant portrayal of George Washington during one of the most critical moments in the American Revolution. In the harsh winter of 1777-78, amidst the immense hardships faced by the Continental Army at Valley Forge, many believe Washington knelt in a moment of solitary prayer, seeking guidance and strength from God."
But many historians do not believe there is much evidence for this story. Thomas Tweed, professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, has written about its origins, which came from a popular biography written shortly after Washington's death entitled The Life of George Washington: With Curious Anecdotes, Equally Honourable to Himself and Exemplary to His Young Countrymen.
"Parson Weems, Washington's early biographer, concocted that story — as well as the yarn about George and the cherry tree — to establish the moral character and personal piety of the first president and, thereby, advance a particular view of national belonging and church-state relations," Tweed wrote in an essay for Yale University Press.
After the publication of Weems' book in 1800, images of the first president praying became a meme — long before there were memes. Paintings and engravings were reproduced on china plates and on postage stamps in the 1920s. It appeared on the cover of the popular magazine The Saturday Evening Post in 1935, and reproduced in stained glass in a special prayer room built in the U.S. Capitol for members of Congress in the 1950s.
"It sacralizes not just the nation, but military warfare," Tweed told NPR. "And Americans who want to associate religion, the nation and the military have returned to it again and again for a long time."
For example, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth invoked the story during last year's Christmas tree lighting at the Pentagon.
"George Washington took [a] bended knee because he understood he needed the help and wisdom of Providence," Hegseth told a crowd of soldiers and officials. "In the dead of winter, the cold of night … not only did he pray but he attacked on Christmas Eve. We have that kind of mentality here too."
Artist Jon McNaughton, known for work that reflects his fervent support of Trump, painted a version of the image replete with what he calls "warrior angels" hovering over Washington, wielding swords.
In an email, McNaughton told NPR he's influenced by Arnold Friberg, who like him, grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Friberg's painting of Washington praying is particularly popular among church members.
"I grew up with that painting in my home," says Nicholas Shrum, a doctoral student researching Latter-day Saint identity in America.
"Mormons, certainly through their history, would look at that and say, 'Yeah, [Washington] was being led by God…so that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could come into existence."
The image has been enthusiastically adopted by conservative evangelicals as well, Shrum says, many of whom see it as a rebuke to mainstream historians, who point out that George Washington was an Anglican and not a weekly churchgoer. Washington's public language was vague about his faith, never explicitly naming Jesus Christ. Members of the Trump administration have framed such information as secularizing attacks on the founding fathers' Christian beliefs. Reproductions of Friberg's "The Prayer at Valley Forge" are part of a government-funded fleet of mobile exhibits called Freedom Trucks now touring the country to celebrate America's 250th, and on a White House website encouraging people to pray.
"People like Friberg and others were able to depict in an argumentative way, 'No, this was the George Washington," Shrum says. "He was religious. He did have a fervent faith in God, that God was going to lead the patriots to victory against this imperial power that wanted to restrict liberty."
"The Prayer at Valley Forge" is owned by First Freedom Art Company, backed by the financial firm CAZ Investments. The group owns more than two hundred paintings by Friberg and lent "The Prayer At Valley Forge" to the Museum of the Bible.
Christopher Zook founded CAZ Investments, and co-authored a bestseller called "The Holy Grail of Investing with Tony Robbins." He says what matters most is the painting's message, for Americans of all faiths.
"Prayer's powerful, period," he says. "So certainly for somebody of the Jewish faith, etc., they pray. If they're devout in their faith."
Zook says that Friberg's image, first painted for America's bicentennial, might just now be coming into its own as a major — and lasting cultural icon.
"This is the perfect image for this perfect time, if you will," he says. "That is the celebration of the 250th."
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