Sold – Washington’s Step-Grandson Says Houdon’s Bust Best Portray’s Him
"The original statue in Richmond has been sadly beplastered, dirtied & injured by copies being taken from it".
Grandson of Martha Washington who was brought up in the house of his step-grandfather, George Washington. By the mid-19th century, noone had a better recollection of Washington than Custis. Here he tells what was the best likeness of the general and president.
Autograph Letter Signed, Arlington House, 4 April 1857, to...
Grandson of Martha Washington who was brought up in the house of his step-grandfather, George Washington. By the mid-19th century, noone had a better recollection of Washington than Custis. Here he tells what was the best likeness of the general and president.
Autograph Letter Signed, Arlington House, 4 April 1857, to Charles H. Moser. “Yours of the 30th ulto. came duly to hand. The best & most reliable bust of the Chief is the plaster cast from Houdon’s statue, which was taken from the life in 1785. I do not know of any cast from the life since Houdon’s. The original statue in Richmond has been sadly beplastered, dirtied & injured by copies being taken from it. I do not recollect the bust to which you allude in the patent office, but would warmly recommend you to the highest & best authority, the cast from Houdon.”
Jean-Antoine Houdon was a French sculptor; among his other portrait busts are those of Jefferson, Franklin, John Paul Jones, Napoleon and Lafayette. Custis’s daughter married Robert E. Lee, and his home Arlington House is now the site of Arlington National Cemetery.
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