This watercolor miniature of Martha Washington was executed by James Peale near the end of Martha’s time as First Lady. She is portrayed at sixty-five, and her lively expression gives the portrait a lifelike characteristic. The reverse side…

After painting miniatures of Martha Washington and her children four years earlier, Charles Willson Peale was commissioned by Martha to portray her husband in a miniature. George was at the front and thus could not sit for the portrait, so Peale…

Martha Washington’s daughter Patsy was sixteen when this miniature portrait was painted by Charles Willson Peale. Patsy suffered from what was probably epilepsy, and a year after this portrait was executed would die as the result of a seizure…

This miniature portrait, painted in 1772 by Charles Willson Peale, is the earliest depiction of Martha after her marriage to George Washington and is a rare depiction painted before Washington’s presidential years. She is 41 years old at the…

This miniature portrait of John Parke (Jacky) Custis was executed by Charles Willson Peale. Jacky brought the painter with him to Mount Vernon when returning home from his studies in Annapolis. Jacky was eighteen when this portrait was painted. …

Soon after his arrival in America in 1796, Benjamin Henry Latrobe became friends with Bushrod Washington, nephew of George Washington. At Bushrod’s invitation, Latrobe visited Mount Vernon during his time in Virginia. This watercolor depicts…

This iconic view of the west front of Mount Vernon is the earliest known pictorial representation of the house and grounds. There is a similar painting of the east front. This view is particularly interesting for its portrayal of domesticity. In the…

Benjamin Henry Latrobe was most famous as an architect, especially for his design for the new U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. He was also an accomplished artist. Soon after arriving in the U.S. from his native Britain in 1796, Latrobe…

This 1861 painting by noted American portraitist Daniel Huntington was titled The Republican Court. (When it was published as a mass-marketed engraving, the title was changed to Lady Washingtonn’s Reception.) The painting is an idealized…