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The Estate

George Washington

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Washington Library

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9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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Washington Family Portrait

Instructions:
Read and analyze the source by completing the Analysis Routine below. When you have finished, select the BACK TO DINING ROOM button to explore the other sources provided.

Artist Edward Savage painted a portrait of “The Washington Family” after he visited Mount Vernon. George Washington liked the painting a lot. He liked it so much he ordered a printed copy, to hang in his dining room. In the engraving a group of people surround a map of the future capitol, what we now call Washington, D.C.. George and Martha Washington are the two people in the center. There is also an enslaved man dressed in livery.

Complete the Analysis Routine

1. Describe what you see in this portrait.

2. Why do you think George Washington hung this portrait in the Dining Room?

3. One of the people in this painting is an enslaved person. He is dressed in a livery suit, or special uniform, like the one Frank Lee would have worn. Historians do not know which enslaved person this is. You decide if he is Frank Lee. Is he doing any of the work Frank Lee would have done? Explain why you think it is Frank Lee or why it is not.

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