Paint Box made by Thomas Reeves & Son
London, ca. 1790–1797
Mahogany box with watercolor paint cakes
Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales By John White
Watercolored by Eleanor (Nelly) Parke Custis
London: J. Debrett, 1790
In addition to music, Nelly’s education included lessons in embroidery, drawing, and painting. Washington purchased this paint box for her, probably in 1797. The set was the most elaborate offered by London firm Thomas Reeves & Son, containing 40 cakes of paint, ivory and ceramic mixing palettes, an ivory brush holder, and glass bowls. Nelly was admired for her artistic and musical accomplishments. When Polish nobleman Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz visited Mount Vernon in 1798, he commented that “she plays the harpsichord, sings, [and] draws better than any woman in America or even in Europe.”
Nelly demonstrated her artistic skills by coloring the plates in Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, which features illustrations of animals and plants native to present-day Australia. Her impressive accomplishment is documented by a title page inscription, “The Prints in this Book were colour’d by Eleanor Parke Lewis in the year 1801.” The charming and delicately painted images of mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects are a testament to Nelly’s talents.
Paint box: Gift: Jess and Grace Pavey Fund, 2013 [W-5326]
Book: Courtesy of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation