Nancy Merrill Photography is hosting a photo challenge:

https://nadiamerrillphotography.wordpress.com/2018/10/04/a-photo-a-week-challenge-gilded/

The theme this week is: Gilded – IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF GILDED OBJECTS.

I visited the National Portrait Gallery during a trip to Washington, DC a few years ago. I was fascinated by this painting of George Washington…and appreciated the quote posted above it.

It was displayed beautifully – in what I assume is a gilded frame.

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I was intrigued by the quote – and curious about its context. It is taken from a letter GW wrote to Catharine Macaulay Graham – a British historian made famous by publishing A History of England (Volume 1) in 1763…thereby cementing the belief that a woman could write history.  She was the first female English historian! – and of course there is a blog – Female Historian

Washington’s letter (containing the above quote) is a response to a letter he had received from Graham several months earlier. Very interesting reading.

I realize I have gotten off track from the challenge, but one thing led to another. Or, should I say, one question led to another.

…Since this photo was taken in 2012, the gallery has been refurbished and although this painting is still there, the accompanying quote appears to be gone.