[Portrait] Martha Washington (1731-1802) defined her role as first lady as one of serving as the country's hostess. She held a "drawing room" every Friday during her husband's two-term presidency. She was somewhat uncomfortable in her role, describing herself as "an old- fashioned Virginia house- keeper." But she had acted as her husband's mainstay during the Revolutionary War and invested the position of first lady with great dignity.

Rembrandt Peale based this portrait on a 1795 original painted by his father, Charles Wilson Peale.

Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, gift of an anonymous donor
"Porthole" portrait of Martha Washington as she appeared in 1795, probably painted in 1853 by Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860), oil on canvas

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