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3 years, 3 months ago about Martha Washington

Since we have a reconstruction of Martha Washington, how about one for George Washington?

The Washington Post has a photo of Martha Washington, basically a reconstruction of her as a young woman. Does this strike anyone as sexist, or am I just being an old grump?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/02/02/ST2009020201419.html
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tomhere | 3 years, 3 months ago
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In 200 years will you want to be remembered as a chubby geriatric or in your prime of life?

George Washington has been reinvented several times already.

Perhaps first by Parson Weems who wrote an early biography of Washington and is probably the source for many of the myths surrounding his early life. You can read it here: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/gw/weems.html

"The Apotheosis of George Washington, Brumidi's Fresco and Beyond" by Laura Dove et al. is a very interesting series of articles that may shed some light for you on how his image is reexamined by each succeeding generation:

"Over the next two centuries, this hero worship of the Father of His Country would take on many forms. After his death, the moral educators of the early 19th century crowned Washington as the ultimate symbol of virtue: an honest mortal worthy of imitation. Once defined as the embodiment of virtue, Washington was able to be appropriated by groups of all stripes. He could be an icon of domestic perfection and almost-aristocratic refinement or the ultimate symbol of the selfless citizen soldier. Politically, socially--and of course, commercially--Washington's image has become an easily-recognized and powerful tool."
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/gw/gwmain.html

Perhaps we might want to consider just leaving him in peace?

Lastiy here is an contemporary engraving of Martha Washington that seem to be very congruent with this new reconstruction:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Martha_Dandridge_Custis.jpg
From wikipedia: "Mezzotint of Martha Washington made by John Folwell, drawn by W. Oliver Stone after the original by John Wollaston, painted in 1757"

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bugsandinsects | 3 years, 3 months ago
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One possible reason not to have a reconstruction of George Washington might be that most people already have an idea of what he looks like.  We have a picture in our minds of either the picture on our money, or some other famous portrait.  These portraits make him look like who we want him to be, and seeing him in a realistic picture would make him seem only human, and possibly less important

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betzster | 3 years, 3 months ago
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I agree. It doesn't make any sense to have a reconstruction of Martha without George. Start a petition.

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