Fresh Look at Martha Washington: Less Frump, More Foxy

Catherine · **Posted:** Mon Feb 02, 2009 6:46 pm

Fresh Look at Martha Washington: Less First Frump, More Foxy Lady

Our image of the mother of our country, vague and insubstantial as it is, is drawn from portraits painted after her death showing a frumpy, dumpy, plump old lady, a fussy jumble of needlework in her lap, wearing what could pass for a shower cap with pink sponge rollers rolled too tight underneath.

But today, 250 years after Martha and George tied the knot, a handful of historians are seeking to revamp the former first lady's fusty image, using the few surviving records of things she wrote, asking forensic anthropologists to do a computerized age-regression portrait of her in her mid-20s and, perhaps most importantly, displaying for the first time in decades the avant-garde deep purple silk high heels studded with silver sequins that she wore on her wedding day.

Take that, Sally Fairfax.

History is about to be revised.

Purple Tang · **Posted:** Mon Feb 02, 2009 8:44 pm

I trust historial revisionists about as far as I can throw them.

Just a tad less than most historians. I find most to be quite snobbish elitists.

Catherine · **Posted:** Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:22 am

I agree, PT, especially when it comes to the Washingtons. I don't doubt that Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was a good-looking woman when she was young, based on other biographical data I've read of her. (Short women can be thin, and Martha Washington probably was at the time of her marriage to George.

However, using forensic anthropology to bring history to life, thus making it much more interesting in today's high-tech world, is a new and welcome idea.

Fresh Look at Martha Washington: Less Frump, More Foxy

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