Memorial to George and Martha Washington
Datec. 1808-1812
Artist
Eliza Gould
(American, 1794 - 1876)
Subject
Martha Washington
(American, 1731 - 1802)
Subject
George Washington
(American, 1732 - 1799)
Geography
Made -
United States
Medium/TechniqueSilk embroidery threads and watercolor on silk, paper
DimensionsOverall (Framed H x W): 20 1/4 in. × 22 in. × 1 3/4 in. (51.44 cm × 55.88 cm × 4.45 cm)
Credit LineAcquired through the generosity of the Connoisseur Society of Mount Vernon, 2016
Object numberM-5426/A-B
DescriptionHorizontally oriented oval composition depicting a landscape scene centered on a monument with two urns set atop a square plinth. The urns display small, applied pasteboard or wood ovals with the lettering “GW” on left and “MW” on right. The face of the plinth displays larger, applied paper ovals featuring bust-length oval portraits of George Washington, on left, and Martha Washington, on right. The portraits are painted in dark, opaque colors. A woman dressed in a long white gown stands to the left of the monument, while a willow tree arches behind it. In the left background is a house, and in the right background, a steepled church. The monument, tree, and woman’s dress are embroidered; her face is painted, as is the background and sky, in delicate pastel shades of blue, pink, and green. The picture is housed in an original gilt wood frame and original églomisé glass; the glass displays a gold rosette at each corner. SignedPainted on the glass of the églomisé frame: "Wrought by Eliza Gould".
Published ReferencesMary Harrod Northend, We Visit Old Inns (1925), 35.
List of Accessions and Loans, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 19/11 (November 1924), 281.
M. H. Northend, Samplers and Needlework of the American Colonial Days, House & Garden, August 1918, 23.
Boston Evening Transcript, 1 May 1913.
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c. 1796
1780-1800
c. 1870
c. 1790
c. 1820