Found in the Collection: George Washington

Showing posts with label George Washington. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

The Man of Letters Was Clean Shaven

Object: Shaving Stand c. 1760

Accession#: 1900.0082

Wash stands appeared in the mid-eighteenth century along with a proliferation of other specialized furniture forms created for the comfort and convenience of the user. Though today the proliferation of washstands on display in house museums may lead us to believe they were standard household items, estate inventories of the time reveal washstands were most frequently found in more affluent homes and not always in the bedroom. At Wilton for example the 1815 estate inventory of William Randolph IV's only lists one wash stand and basin and is identified as being located, not in a bedroom as one might expect, but in the study. From this we may conjecture that William Randolph IV would have done his shaving and washing-up there.

This mahogany swash stand embodies the playful curves and ornamentation characteristic of the mid-eighteenth century. Lightweight washstands could be easily moved about a room as needed, perhaps near a fireplace for warmth or at a window to take advantage of early morning light. When not in use its slender size and three-legged base was perfectly tucked out-of-the-way into a corner. Wash stands often had three levels, the top level holding the basin, the lower platform held the pitcher or chamber pot. The second level of drawers held washing requisites such as brushes for the teeth and powders for the wig. This example includes the further embellishment of a spherical compartment fr soap.

Resting on the top of our washstand is a Japanese Imari style shaving bowl of the mid-eighteenth century. A shaving bowl can be identified by the notch cut out along the rim of the bowl so as to be placed at the throat of a gentlemen, just under the chin, to catch the removed facial hair and lather. Beards and facial hair in general were un-fashionable for the eighteenth-century gentleman and remained so until the mid-nineteenth century. According to a contemporary “the man of letters was clean shaven.”

One of the shaving tools found in George Washington’s possessions was a whetstone, which was used to sharpen a razor so that it would not become dull. Razors and other shaving implements were readily accessible to buy during the mid- to late-18th century. Wallace, Davidson, and Johnson, a mercantile firm formed in 1771, in their first year showed an order that included three and half dozen razors of various grades ranging from “common” to more costly “cast steel” types. To facilitate shaving, a shaving brush, which was introduced in the mid-18th century, was used to apply lather to the face. Washington owned one which is described as “appear[ing] to be made of badger bristles.”

John Mason, son of American statesmen George Mason, wrote that his father “always shaved himself—and used to shave his whole head which was covered by the Wig twice a week...” The Randolph gentleman would no doubt have been involved in this routine—their portraits showing them clean shaven and wigged.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

The Life of George Washington by John Marshall

Objects: The Life of Washington, Vol. I-V
Object ID: 1998.2.1-5

George Washington was not only considered a military and revolutionary hero, but a man of great personal integrity, duty, honor and patriotism. Known for his roles as the head of the Continental Army and as our nation’s first president; he helped create a legacy of strength and national purpose.
Upon Washington’s death in 1799, at the age of 67, his personal notes and files were left to his nephew, Bushrod Washington. As a friend of the first president, John Marshall announced Washington's death, offered the eulogy, chaired the committee that arranged the funeral and led the commission that planned a monument in the nation's capital. Washington had known Marshall's father, Thomas, through his early surveying career, and during a young Marshall's military service, he developed his own friendship with the commander-in-chief. Due to the close relationship that Marshall shared with George Washington, Bushrod asked Marshall to write the official biography for his uncle. Marshall began writing Washington’s biography in 1801 and continued to add to the manuscript for five years. The resulting biography resulted in five volumes totaling more than 3,200 pages of dates and dates of his personal, political and military life.

Born on September 24, 1755 to Thomas and Mary, John Marshall grew up in an adequately educated household that held significant social, religious and political status in Prince William County of Virginia (currently Fauquier County). Marshall’s formal education began in 1767 from a traveling minister who lived in the household; providing Marshall with readings and teachings. John later went on to receive a more thorough education at the academy of Reverend Archibald Campbell. Marshall also did a six week study at William and Mary College in 1780 where he attended the law lectures of George Wythe.

During his political activity in the late 1700’s, as Marshall’s private law practice flourished, he served in the House of Delegates and became the leader of the Federalist Party. During this time, Marshall managed to meet and marry Mary Ambler in 1783. On January 20, 1801, President Adams nominated Marshall to be Chief Justice of the United States with the Senate unanimously confirming the nomination on January 27. John Marshall was sworn in on February 4, 1801 and served as Chief Justice for thirty-four years.

The five volume biography that John Marshall wrote is a prized addition to the Wilton library. Not only was Marshall a Randolph decedent of William I, but George Washington was considered to be a good friend of the family. It was even reported that the Randolph’s entertained Washington at Wilton for three nights when Washington attended the Second Virginia Convention in 1775.

A first edition set of this Washington biography by Randolph family descendant John Marshall can be seen in our current museum exhibition: The Randolph Family Reunion November 2012 through February 2014.

Bibliography

Gordon, Douglas H. "John Marshall: The Fourth Chief Justice." American Bar Association Journal. 41.8 (1995): 698-702, 766-771. Print. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/25719292>.

Freidel, Frank, and Hugh Sidey. "The Presidential biographies ." The White House . White House Historical Association, n.d. Web. 24 Oct 2013. <http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/georgewashington>.

"John Marshall." Library of Virginia. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct 2013. <http://www.lva.virginia.gov/exhibits/marshall/>.

Image Credit

http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/furnishings/george-washington-gilbert-stuart.jpg

http://www.virginiamemory.com/docs/Marshall07_0978_ART027_02.jpg

http://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?set=path[7%2F6%2F4%2F4%2F7644951]%2Csizedata[450x2000]&call=url[file%3Aproduct.chain]

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

A Print of the Washington Family

Object: Mezzotint
Accession #: 1984.0076

According to one historian, “a mezzotint is a distinctive tonal print made using a copper plate that is worked or ‘grounded’ using a semi-circular fine-toothed hand tool known as a ‘rocker’ so that the entire surface is roughened by tiny pits.” The plate can then be covered with ink before being pressed against paper to produce a print. According to the dictionary, a mezzotint is the method referred to as well as the print produced from such a plate.

This mezzotint, one of two in Wilton's collection, was made from an engraving by John Sartain in 1840 which he based on a painting by Edward Savage completed in “Philadelphia in the year 1796." Under the proper right corner of the print is: “Painted by Edward Savage," in the center “Published by Wm. Smith 3rd St. Philadelphia,” and under the proper left corner of the print: “Engraved by J. Sartain.” Underneath the print are the names of those depicted in painting, from the viewer’s left to right: George Washington Parke Custis, General George Washington, Eleanor Parke Custis, Martha Washington, and William Lee. The print depicts Washington as he sits at a table with his right arm resting on the shoulder of George Washington Parke Custis, who stands behind him. Across the table, on which is a map, sits Mrs. Washington pointing a folded fan to part of the map. Standing to her right is Eleanor Parke Custis. Standing behind Mrs. Washington is “Billy Lee, who was Washington’s body servant throughout the war” and “in the background is the noble aspect of the Potomac River as seen from Mt. Vernon.” The mezzotint is lacking in a detailed view of the Potomac River, as is the case with the print from which it was produced.

Not much is known about the early career of Edward Savage. By 1785, he was painting in Boston and several years later worked in New York. He traveled to London in 1791 where he published copies of his engravings and portraits including one of George Washington. One historian explains that Savage, “was not a gifted artist, nor was he, so far as one may judge, an agreeable man” and that other artists “had nothing good to say of him or of his abilities.” However, this same historian goes on to say that “he gave us an image that has been part of our national memory for two hundred years.”

John Sartain was born in London in 1808 and began as an apprentice to John Swaine in 1823, from whom he learned heraldry and letter engraving. In 1830, after marrying John Swaine’s daughter he moved to Philadelphia, Pennslvania. From there, he produced engravings for Graham’s Magazine in 1841. Eight years later, Sartain started publishing his own magazine, Sartain’s Union Magazine of Literature and Art. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Edgar Alan Poe were among some of its notable contributors.

Savage had been commissioned by Harvard College to paint a portrait of Washington from life while the president was in New York and in the winter of 1789-90 he painted George and Martha Washington. Savage’s grandson, “supposes that he [Savage] used these portraits of George and Martha Washington for the family group [painting].” The engraving of the Washington family was done by Sartain from a lithograph of the work by Savage and not from the actual painting. Details in Savage’s work are not included in Sartain’s engraving, which a journalist for the New York Times, writing in 1892 about the works by the two, states, “prove that Sartain must have worked without the aid of painting or engraving.”

Original painting by Edward Savage

George Washington had become a national icon following the American Revolution. After he was elected president, Washington’s face became “a recognized symbol of victory and liberty.” According to the last will and testament of William Randolph IV, of Wilton, a "print of the Washington family" is listed under the inventory. The Randolphs may have purchased a print containing Washington to show their admiration for the then deceased president who had once visited their home.

Bibliography

Frank, Robin Jaffee. Love and Loss: American Portrait and Mourning Miniatures. Yale

University Press. New Haven, 2000.

Richardson, Edgar P. American Paintings and Related Pictures in the Henry Francis Dupont

Museum. University Press of VA. Charlottsville, 1986.

“Washington and his Family”. New York Times Online Archives. December 30, 1892. 24

August 2012. <http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F40910FB345515738DDDA90B94DA415B8285F0D3>

“Overview of Collection”. The Winterthur Library. 24 August 2012

<http://findingaid.winterthur.org/html/HTML_Finding_Aids/COL0398.htm>

“Mezzotint”. Dictionary.com. 24 August 2012.

<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mezzotint>

“The Mezzotint”. Warnock Fine Arts. 24 August 2012.

<http://warnockfinearts.com/MezzotintProcess.htm>

“The Early Mezzotint” The National Gallery. 24 August 2012.

<http://www.npg.org.uk/research/programmes/early-history-of-mezzotint/the-early-

mezzotint.php>

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

George Washington's Hair

Accession Number: 1999.8

Item: Hair sample of George Washington with Letter

Wilton House Museum contains many interesting historical artifacts dating from around the time when the house was built. Regrettably, the home does not have many personal mementos belonging to the Randolph family since, the last Randolph moved from the house in 1859. Fortunately for Wilton, we were lucky enough to acquire an “artifact” possibly belonging to one of Wilton's most famous guests, George Washington. A snippet of George Washington's hair with a letter came into Wilton's Collection in [1903] when it was presented to the Virginia Dames by Mrs. Claiborne. The letter that came with the hair states that this particular lock belonged to James Hamilton, son of the Alexander Hamilton who then gave it to a Mrs. Perkins on July 23, 1812. An additional letter contains information that Mrs. Perkins gave the hair sample to Mrs. Claiborne to present it to the National Society of Colonial Dames. From these letters we can surmise that the original owner of this particular piece of hair was Alexander Hamilton, George Washington's aide-de-camp, which has led to many interesting questions that we have sought to answer. Is the hair really that of George Washington? What can the hair reveal about the time period of George Washington's death? And did he bequeath Alexander Hamilton his hair in accordance with mourning practices at the time period as a personal souvenir of the deceased?

What we believe to be George Washington's hair was sent out to The Department of Environmental Sciences in Charlottesville, Virginia and the FBI laboratories in 1999 to undergo various tests to determine the genetics of its former “owner”. Unfortunately, there was not enough hair to come to a positive conclusion and although more tests could have been done it would have put the hair sample at risk. The decision was made to preserve the remaining strands. But the tests done on the hair sample did reveal some other useful information. It provided us with the diet of the owner which included wheat, beans, corn, meat, and a small amount of fish, a diet similar to that of a modern man.

The next question surrounding the mysterious sample of hair was whether or not it was indeed given to Alexander Hamilton, and why. Throughout time the observation of mourning a lost loved one has been practiced differently. Starting in the late 16^th century people began to memorialize their deceased friends and family members through the wearing of mourning rings. This practice evolved into the creation of other mourning jewelry constructed out of the lately departed’s hair. The hair then would be constructed into bracelets or placed into broaches, rings and other fashionable pieces of jewelry to memorialize and act as a souvenir of the deceased to remind the living the importance of life. The practice became so popular among the wealthy during the colonial era that people would write into their last wills who would receive a mourning ring or sample of their hair upon their death.

Although hair was also exchanged by young lovers during courtship as personal mementos it was more often used in ritual mourning, the practice reaching its height during the Victorian Era. The end of the practice introduced a new era of mourning. The stoic response including, near indifference to the deceased with the wearing of bright colors in stark contrast to the mandatory wearing of black and mourning jewelry which would help delineate those in mourning and garner the proper respect.

While it is possible that the hair sample was given to Alexander Hamilton upon George Washington's death as a personal reminder of Washington's patronage of the young man, there is no evidence of such a bequeath in the former President's Will. Even though Washington dedicated a section of his last testament to the creation and distribution of mourning rings to selected family members there is no mention of Hamilton. Hamilton served as aide-de-camp for Washington during the Revolutionary War and then Secretary of the Treasurer in Washington's cabinet but their relationship was strictly professional. Washington pursued a friendship with Hamilton but the latter made it perfectly clear in his correspondences with others that he never returned the friendship only seeing Washington as a beneficial mentor for his own career, even having a falling out from the General over what many consider a petty fight. Regardless of the schism, Hamilton assisted Washington in the writing of his farewell address from his office as President and both remained close in their alliance as part of the new Federalist political party. Upon the General's death Hamilton wrote a letter to Mrs. Washington sending his condolences. Notwithstanding the inconclusive answers to; whether or not the snippet was George Washington's hair and if he actually bequeathed it to Alexander Hamilton, common mourning practices at the time as well as Hamilton and Washington's close political relationship, suggests that it is indeed possible that Washington gave Hamilton the pieces of hair and that it came to Wilton through the suggested line of people.

Bibliography:

"1784: Death Comes to Wilton" Fall Exhibiition 2008, 2009, 2010. Exhibition Notes.

Hamilton, Alexander. "The Revolution 1781: Letter to Philip Schuyler February 18, 1781." In Alexander Hamilton Writings, by Joanne B. Freeman and The Library of America, distributed by Penguin Books, 93-96. New York: Columbia University Press, 1979.

Harran, Susan and Jim. "Remembering A Loved One with Mourning Jewelry." Antique Week. Accessed May 1, 2010. Last modified December 1997. http://www.hairwork.com/remember.htm.

Kerr, Donald M. "George Washington's Hair Sample." Donald M. Kerr to Sylvia B. Evans Ms., April 26, 1999.  Item file 1999.8. Wilton House Museum.

Macko, Stephen A. "George Washington's Hair analysis." Stephen A. Macko to Sylvia Evans Ms., March 15, 1999.  Item file 1999.8. Wilton House Museum.

Melchor, Marilyn. "Aesthetic Appeal." Colonial Williamsburg. Accessed May 1, 2011. Last modified Spring 2003. http://www.history.org/foundation/journey/spring 03/appeal.cfm.

Navarro, Irene Guggenheim. “Hairwork of the Nineteenth Century.” The Magazine Antiques Vol. 159, no. 4 (March 2001): 484-493.

Smigel, Barbara. "Unusual Organics." Barbara Smigel Info. Accessed May 1, 2011. Last modified 2008.  http://www.bwsmigel.info.

Thompson, Mary V. "The Lowest Ebb of Misery: Death and Mourning in the Family of George Washington." Historic Alexandria Quarterly, Spring 2001.