Eleanor Parke Custis

Status

Not on view

Label Text

"James Sharples' charming likeness of a teenage Eleanor (Nelly) Parke Custis supports the many contemporary descriptions of her which praise her beauty as well as her intelligence, wit, and artistic and musical talents. Here she is portrayed with wind-blown hair and a landscape background as if she were outdoors in a garden. Martha Washington gave this portrait of her granddaughter to a friend, Mary Lear, the mother of Tobias Lear, Washington’s secretary. Mrs. Washington and Mrs. Lear developed a closeness that certainly deepened when Frances (Fanny) Bassett, Martha Washington's niece, married Tobias Lear in 1795, and Mrs. Lear came to know Nelly Custis during extended visits to Philadelphia in the 1790s."

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Datec. 1796

After James Sharples (English, 1751/2 - 1811)

Artist James Sharples (English, 1751/2 - 1811)

Subject Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis (American, 1779 - 1852)

Geography Probably made - United StatesProbably made - United States

Medium/TechniquePastel crayon on paper.

DimensionsImage (H x W): 9 1/2 in. × 7 1/2 in. (24.13 cm × 19.05 cm) Overall with frame: (H x W): 11 1/16 in. × 9 1/8 in. (28.1 cm × 23.18 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, 1974

Object numberW-2645/A-B

Descriptionthis pastel on paper is a full-bust profile portrait of Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis (1779-1852), facing left with shoulders slightly turned to the right. She is depicted with brown eyes, very dark eyebrows and lashes, an aquiline nose, and a pale complexion with pink cheeks and coral lips. Her wavy auburn hair is long and windswept. She wears a white dress with a draped neckline and a pale blue sash. A lighter blue—nearly white—sheer head scarf flutters forward over her head.The background is a landscape, with dark brown trees to the left, and a range of blue tones from pale to a deeper, royal blue.

Published ReferencesDecatur, Stephen, “The Lear House and Its Furnishings,”American Collector, October 1940: pp. 11, 15.

Decatur, Jr., Stephen "Private Affairs of George Washington" (Boston: The Riverside Press) 1933, pp. 32.

Knox, Katherine McCook, "The Sharples" (New York: Kennedy Graphics, Inc.) 1972, pp. 46-47, 92, 95, 101.

Lossing, Benson J., "Mount Vernon and its Associations" (New York: W.A. Townsend & Company) 1859, pp. 287-297.

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