Madison Dolley - Portrait by Gilbert Stuart Art Print

An archival premium Quality art Print of the 1804 Portrait of Dolley Madison by Gilbert Stuart for sale by Brandywine General Store. Dolley Madison, the First Lady, was raised with a strict Quaker background, she was widowed early in her life with two small children, when her first husband succumbed to the Yellow Fever epidemic that swept through Washington DC in the early years of the formation of the capital. She met James Madison when she went to Philadelphia to be with her parents after her husband died. He was already 38 years old at the time and it was thought he would always be a bookish bachelor as long as he lived. However he and Dolley got along well together and were soon married. Despite Mrs. Madison's strict Quaker upbringing she flourished in Washington DC society, rivaling Josephine Bonaparte in terms of graciousness on the World Stage. Dolley held the first Inaugural ball in History, when her husband, James Madison, became the fourth United States President in 1809, this inaugural affair was the biggest and grandest party that the new capital had ever seen up to this time. Dolly Madison was a great first lady, she had the charm and personality that some say the President lacked and of course she gained much fame when she saved the grand portrait of George Washington which was also painted by Gilbert Stuart, when the British burnt down the White House during the War of 1812. When this painting was completed in the year 1804, James Madison was the Secretary of State under Thomas Jefferson, the original oil on canvas measures 29 by 24 inches and now belongs to the White House Collection. The provenance of this painting is as follows: Mr and Mrs. James Madison, by descent to Mrs. Madison's son, Payne Todd, sold in 1851 at a DC auction to Mrs. Madison's niece, Anna Payne Causten, then by descent to Mary Causten Kunkel, sold at auction in Philadelphia in 1899 and purchased by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Harrison Earl Fund Purchase, lent to the White House from 1970 until 1994 in which year the portrait was purchased by the White House. Famous people art print #05