During her tenure as the nation's first lady, Martha Washington likened herself to a "state prisoner." Like her husband, however, she recognized the duties of her position, and for eight years she presided with great warmth and skill over the weekly receptions and state dinners of her husband's administration. Shortly after retiring with George Washington to their Mount Vernon home in 1797, she expressed her relief at being out of the public eye in a letter, describing herself as "steady as a clock, busy as a bee, and happy as a cricket."

Painted as the companion to the "Patriae Pater" likeness of her husband, Rembrandt Peale's portrait of Martha Washington was based on an original image painted from life sittings by his father, Charles Willson, in 1795. That picture now hangs in Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860)
Oil on canvas, probably 1853
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Gift of an anonymous donor
NPG.75.3

Enlarged image

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