[The reign of Dolly Madison] – Historic Print
![[The reign of Dolly Madison], 1901 Apr. 24 [publication date] — historic drawing](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/9e/9eef2b3633c9-L.webp)
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
A window into the past: [The reign of Dolly Madison], preserved in this historic drawing. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.
The framed print arrives ready to hang; the unframed option suits custom framing. A fine choice for anyone who loves history, and a gift that gets noticed. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past, founded in 2001, has served tens of thousands of customers worldwide.
[The reign of Dolly Madison]
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Rather than a portrait of a single sitter, this drawing centers on Dolly Madison, the hostess who presided over Washington society while her husband, James Madison, was president from 1809 to 1817. It is an ink-over-pencil sheet with blue pencil on bristol board, signed by L.M. Glackens and published in 1901 with a rhyming verse. The verse recalls a livelier capital where laughter came easily, rank mattered less, and plain homespun clothes were welcome in fashionable rooms. Its humor depends on that contrast between a looser past and the more formal society of the drawing's own day.
| Created / published | 1901 Apr. 24 [publication date] |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 drawing : India ink over pencil, with blue pencil on bristol board ; 37.0 x 58.5 cm. (sheet) |
| Genre | 1901." |
| Subjects | No copyright information found with item. Signed, lower center: L.M. Glackens. The poem published with the image reads: They say when Dolly Madison / Wore, quite by right, the social bays, / That laughter bubbled, overrun, / The Washington of other day; / That mirth prevailed where now you'll find / Sedate and staid sobriety; / They did not then so strictly mind / The cannons of Society. / Less heed they paid to rank and station / In Madison's administration. / They say that Dolly Madison / Was wont on country legislators / To lavish smiles, and plain homespun / Was not tabooed by style's dictators, / That brains instead of clothes were prized-- / A things that's very hard to credit! / That with applause they recognized / The apt remark--not he who said it! / Ah! Sad's the change throughout the nation / Since Madison's Administration! Title from Puck. Bequest and gift; Caroline and Erwin |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 4,647 × 3,816 px · prints to 15 × 13 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-219743 |
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