The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-11-20

Among the articles BayeG ffor1 me WEect
nt ArifHgten were many of the pafnfaIigs
that In thsi happy days nos gore adorned
the walls oil that aofioe beautiful and hospfta.
bic mansion Most of Them ARE sdefaeed-
either By soldiers Or by transpo rtatfon- and
they are nowsat Green's cabinet factory, in
this city Undergoing replirs, preparatory tc
being forwarded TO their otsnef3 Mrs. Mary
Custis Lee, at her home in Lexington
Though handsome portrnits of handsome
people, to Que who has seen them hanging
where they once hung they are mot agree
bic, for they make too obvious sthe con.
trast between then and now, and revive
regrets which had better be oblitera.
ted-regrets such az are evoked by
the columns of the noble portico Of Ar
iington as now seen from the ferry boats
which ply between this city and Washing
ton. They are there, however, sad realities,
and q cursory glance, taken In hurried
round through the furniture-room in which
they are stored this morning, recognized the
following: A head and bust of G. W. p.
Gusts, painted by g.. Stuart-an excellent
likeness, portrasing with viyidness the bald
head, the fair complexion verging upon
ford, the short side-whiskers extending
from the top Of the ear to the angle of the
jaw, and the light and notwithstanding eye
ofthe "child of Mount Vernon" so weil.re-
membered by most of the middle-aged and
older residents Of the city. A portrnit of
John Gusts, the immediate ancestor of
6. w, 2, who holds in bis hand book
| containing an essay upon the tulip, writ
ten by himself, q representation of that
flower being near by. A full-length like
ness of Colonel Daniel Park, paint
ed BY Sir Godfrey Kneller, in which he
IL represented rs arrayed in coat Of GRIM
son velvet embroidered with gold, wearing
miniature of Queen Anne pendant from
his neck by red ribbon, and holding in his
right hand Marlborough's dispatch to thai
Queen informing her of his victory at Blen-
helm. A portrait of Eleanor Park Gusts,
fsister of G. ". p, and with him an adopt
ed child of Washington, also by Stuart,
which, despite the ill-usage 1t has received,
still plainly shows that ,'Nellie Custus was
one of the most beautiful of women, and ira
dition bears testimony to her brilliant wit,
extensive information, and boundless gene
rosity. This picture represents her as gay.
laughing, saucy girl, just entered upon wo-
manhood, of exquisite features, and a form,
judging from the bare arm and rounded
shoulder, of bewitching symmetry. There are
six spirited and original Revolutionary battle
scenes, in which Washington participated
battles of Trenton, Princeton, Germantown,
and Monmouth, Washington at Yorktown,
and the Surrender at Yorktown, painted by
Mr.. Custis when he was more than eighty
years old. AS works Of art they are said by
tonnoisseurs to possess little merit, but as
truthful delineations Of incidents and COS
tunes they have value independent of thai
which attaches to them as the works Of him
who painted them. A portrait Of Mrs
Washington, the wife of the General, painted
by Woolaston in 1857, when she was In the
bloom Of youth, and must at that time have
been exceedingly handsome. It is mentioned
of fler dress in Mrs. General Lees life o
Mr.. Gusts that; though plain, she was SC
scrupulously neat that ladies often wondered
how Mrs. Washington could wear du
ring a whole week Of domestic management
gown that at the expiration of that time
retained its snow-like whiteness, unSulliet
by even single speck. A picture of Gene
raj Washington by the elder Peale, repre-
senting him as the provincial colonel, paint.
| ed in 1772'; then half bust of the Genera
| by Houdon, after the manner of the antique
| taken soon after the Revolution ; then cabi
net picture by Madam de Brienne, repre-
senting the heads Of Washington and La
| fayette, and profile likeness of Washington
in crayon, by Sharpless, said to. be an admi
rable likeness. These and many other pic
lures, representing either persons belonging
Ito the Park, Gusts, Washington, Lewis
Lee, and other ilIustlious families, or scene:
| in which they were actors, are being cleaned
| vanished, and re(ramed, and sent off t.
| their owner, the widow of General Rober
E. Lee, parcel by parcel, as rapidly as thu
work upon them is completed.