Art: George's Ladies

Like most males then and since, George Washington did his best to squirm out of having his picture done. It took all the prodding and blandishments of his wife Martha to make him agree to have "his likeness limned" for the first time. Giving in. Washington said: "Very well, Madam, but only if you and your children have your likenesses taken at the same time." As a result, Painter Charles Willson Peale was summoned from Annapolis in May 1772 to paint the hero of the French and Indian War, his wife and stepchildren. Peale's...

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