George Washington Parke Custis

A miniature watercolor portrait on ivory shows a young George Washington Parke Custis, stepgrandson of the first president. Written in ink on the cardboard backing to the portrait are the words Remember Mount Vernon. When G. W. P. Custis was an infant his father died; he and one sister were brought up by George and Martha Washington at Mount Vernon. This miniature was presented to the Marquis de Lafayette in 1824-1825, during the Revolutionary War heros triumphant tour of the United States, but the portrait was eventually returned to Mary Custis Lee, the only surviving child of G. W. P. Custis, at her request.