Miniature Portrait, Martha Washington

Portraits

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 of the portrait’s gold mounting contains a lock of Martha’s hair (image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association).

James Peale

1796

portrait miniature, watercolor on ivory

eng

W-624

Miniature portrait, George Washington, by Charles Willson Peale (watercolor on ivory, 1776)

Portraits

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 modeled it after an earlier full-size portrait of Washington that he had executed. The miniature portrays Washington in his military uniform as commander of the Continental Army (image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association).

Charles Willson Peale

1776

portrait miniature, watercolor on ivory

eng

W-460

Miniature portrait, Martha Parke Custis, 1772, by Charles Willson Peale (watercolor on ivory, 1772)

Portraits

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 (image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association).

Charles Willson Peale

1772

portrait miniature, watercolor on ivory

eng

W-2355 A

Miniature portrait, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, by Charles Willson Peale (watercolor on ivory, 1772)

Portraits

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 time (image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association).

Charles Willson Peale

1776

portrait miniature, watercolor on ivory

eng

W-2102 A

Miniature portrait, John Parke Custis, by Charles Willson Peale (watercolor on ivory, 1772)

Portraits

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. Peale also completed miniatures at this time of Jacky’s sister Martha Parke (Patsy) Custis, Martha Washington, and of George Washington (Courtesy of an anonymous lender. Image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association).

Charles WIllson Peale

1772

portrait miniature, watercolor on ivory

eng

W-2355 B

Mourning pin

eng

Van Braam cup and saucer, c. 1795

Martha Washington as first lady

In the mid-1790s, Dutch merchant Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest designed a Chinese porcelain service specifically to present as a gift to First Lady Martha Washington. This cup and saucer is one of the few remaining pieces of the service. The cup is emblazoned with Martha’s initials, and both pieces display the linked names of the fifteen states of the Union. A Latin inscription under Martha’s initials translates as, “Our Union is our Glory, and our Defense against Him [i.e. England’s King George III].”  Image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.

1795

eng

W-1497/A&C

Copper Saucepan

Daily life at Mount Vernon

This saucepan would have been used by Mount Vernon’s kitchen slaves to prepare meals for the Washingtons and their guests. Made of copper, the saucepan is lined with tin to avoid the distinctive metallic taste imparted to food by copper cookware. George Washington willed all of the kitchen cookware to his wife upon his death. It is believed that Thomas Peter (husband of Martha Washington’s granddaughter Martha Parke Custiis) purchased the pan in 1802, at an auction held after Martha’s death (image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association).

eng

Trunk

Marth Washington and the Revolutionary War

Despite accepting the generalship of the Continental Army, George Washington longed to return to Mount Vernon and private life with his wife throughout the Revolutionary War. This is probably one reason that Martha Washington traveled to the Army’s winter quarters every year, dealing with arduous and often dangerous traveling conditions. The General’s wife was fondly remembered by many of Washington’s aides in memoirs of the war years. This trunk was identified by one of Martha’s granddaughters as the one that she traveled with during the Revolution (image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association).

eng

CT-7308/W368

Work basket

Daily life at Mount Vernon

This basket was probably purchased for Martha Washington in Philadelphia in 1795. She would have used it to hold bulkier items as she sewed, which supports the family legend that the basket often held George Washington’s socks while Martha darned them (image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association).

eng

W-673