.png){kind=logo}
Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object name |
Painting |
Title |
The Marriage of Nellie Custis at Mt. Vernon - Washington's Last Birthday 1799 |
Artist or maker |
John Ward Dunsmore (1856-1945) |
Date |
1909 |
Place of origin |
USA |
Physical description |
On right, two women, one touching a very small child in white by her side, and a man, as well as other people visible throught he doorway. On the left are four men, one sitting down. At the center is a small girl in a pink dress. At the top of the staicase is a black woman in red. On the right of the staircase is presumably the bride groom. At the foot of of the staircase is Nellie Custis, the bride, embracing George Washington, who mainly has his back to the viewer. Nellie Custis was married on the last birthday of Washington. She had urged the General to wear his new uniform at the ceremony. This uniform had been recently voted him by Congress as he had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armies during the scare of the threatened war with France. He gave her no satisfaction concerning this uniform as he was very much averse to the wearing of gold lace and other decorations, but when she descended the staircase ready for the ceremony she found the General waiting at the foot of the stairs dressed in his old service uniform. |
Past exhibit |
Dunsmore: Illustrating the American Revolutionary War |
Catalogue number |
1936.02.026 |
Collection name |
Paintings and Sculpture |
Credit line |
Gift of George A. Zabriskie Memorial, 1936 |