Portrait of George Washington

Eleanor Custis, known as "Nelly," was the granddaughter of Martha Washington and adopted stepdaughter of George Washington (Nelly Custis’s paternal grandfather was Daniel Parke Custis, Martha Washington’s first husband). Custis grew up at Mount Vernon, George and Martha Washington’s estate, then moved with the family in 1789 to the seat of government in New York following the election that made her step-grandfather the first president of the United States. A year later, the family moved to Philadelphia, where they would remain until Washington’s retirement from office in 1797. The art courses that Custis took while living in New York and Philadelphia likely included silhouette-cutting instruction, priming her to render this hollow-cut silhouette portrait of George Washington, in which the negative profile was cut from board and placed atop a black fabric support. Custis created a silhouette portrait of Martha Washington that is also in The Met's collection (see accesion number 1976.567).