Magazine
Subscribe to Mount Vernon Magazine
This article originally appeared in Mount Vernon magazine, published three times a year by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.
During the presidential years, Martha and George Washington had a taste for French furnishings—but what happened to them all?
By Amy H. Henderson
We cherish items once used by significant historical figures. Museums the world over contain such authentic objects that purport to encapsulate essential moments in time, reveal the heroic qualities of individuals, and, ideally, bring us closer to the past.
Things once owned by George Washington are of particularly exalted status. From the time Washington rose to national prominence, Americans saw his household furnishings as objects that bore witness not only to his admirable character, but also to the republican principles that led to the founding of their country.
Today’s Mount Vernon is full of such objects, and it behooves us to ascertain—as well as we might—whether the objects we revere as relics and study for insight into the Washingtons were indeed their authentic possessions. A collection of Louis XVI-style chairs in the museum are just the kind of objects that deserve a deeper investigation into their authenticity, both because of what they tell us about George and Martha Washington’s commitment to hospitality and politeness during the presidential years, and because so much about them remains unknown.
The mystery of the Washingtons’ many French chairs began with Martha’s May 1789 arrival in New York City to establish the first family’s household.
Congress had furnished a house for their use, and, although Martha would write her niece that it was “handsomely furnished all new for the General,” an inventory of the furnishings and surviving pieces suggest the décor was slightly outdated. Recognizing the importance of demonstrating to foreign visitors and American statesmen alike that the leader of this new nation was cultured and sophisticated, the Washingtons began to search for something more elegant.
Amy H. Henderson, Ph.D., is an art historian and museum consultant whose work focuses on gender, politics, and material culture in the early republic. She previously held a three-month fellowship at the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon to research the Washingtons’ French chairs.