This miniature of Martha was one of the last portraits made before the Washingtons left Philadelphia for retirement at Mount Vernon at the end of Washington's second term. It is probably the portrait described in Martha's letter of January 3, 1796, to her granddaughter Nelly: "I was in hopes my dear child to have had a picture drawn of me for you before this I have set several times the picture is not yet done nor do I know when it will be ready to send to you as the painter beged I would not hurry him and as I know the only value of a picture is the likeness it bears to the person it is taken for I shall wait till he brings it to me."  
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Martha Washington