Sid Hart, senior historian at NPG, discusses a portrait of Martha Washington by Gilbert Stuart
Sid Hart, senior historian at NPG, discusses a portrait of Martha Washington by Gilbert Stuart. Gilbert Stuart painted this portrait of Martha Washington at the same time he did that of the president. Both paintings were commissioned by the Washingtons. They were never completed, however, and the artist kept them in his possession until his death. Although Stuart made many copies of the president's portrait, no other likeness of Martha Washington by Stuart is known to exist. Sid Hart, senior historian at the National Portrait Gallery, discussed this 1796 portrait of Martha Washington at a Face-to-Face portrait talk. The work is displayed on the museum's second floor, in the exhibition "America's Presidents." Recorded at NPG, March 19, 2009. Image info: Martha Dandridge Custis Washington / Gilbert Stuart, 1796 / Oil on canvas / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; owned jointly with Museum of Fine Arts, Boston