Martha Dandridge Custis Washington

Martha Dandridge Custis married George Washington in 1759, shortly after the death of her first husband, Daniel Park Custis. At twenty-seven, she had two young children in tow and had amassed tremendous wealth. Owning more than seventeen thousand acres of land, she and her family relied on a large, enslaved workforce, which at one point included her half-sister, Ann Dandridge.

George Washington served as a general in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War (1775–83), and the couple often stayed together in the winter encampments. In the years that followed the war, Martha Washington left her pleasant life at their Mount Vernon plantation to support her husband while he served as president.

Rembrandt Peale based his portrait on his father's (Charles Willson Peale's) 1795 likeness, adding a "porthole" as he did in his George Washington on view across the room.