as with udon's statue of cincinattus, the cloak means something, he's thrown the cloak. either he's in haste to get the heck out of there because mt. vernon is a couple of miles down the road and it's christmas eve, or it could be because he's throwing off the cloak of leadership, literally the mantle of power. one other thing you can see the subordination of the military to the civilian power here, it's subtle, but this guy is actually higher than washington. washington has center stage. but this guy, charles thompson, sect secretary of commerce, no surprise, the bureaucracy is the power. that's where you go for locating the center of civil authority. then as now. probably in any government. but come back to this painting later on on other own aer your you can tell any more signs or lessons it has to teach. the grand manner of historical painting starts to subside, replaced by a romantic period of painting. romance, as the name suggests, is supposed to evoke feeling. it's supposed to be looking at emotions, dark or foreboding in the case of this. this is based on thomas