I've been beboping around the boards lately, and saw something about the Lansdowne painting. It peaked my interest so I started searching.
This painting was not the origional, was not named after its painter or subject, wasn't signed or dated, and was gifted to a european. It did not find its way into the whitehouse until 1800, when it was bought for $800($11,924.39 today).
Yet during the war of 1812, it was rescued from the white house in a panic, to the point where it was broken out of its frame and rushed into hiding.
while the panic can be attributed to the British coming, or that Dolly did not know this was a copy, why would something so [precious suddenly be handed to two men, never to be named in historical record, for safe keeping? would they not be heralded as national symbols?
Why did Dolly forgo saving anything in the capital of the country, other than a painting, no matter how expensive?
and why is one of the books under the table titled "Constitution and laws of the United sates"?
where is the T?