Miniature Portrait of James Madison

James Madison, architect of the U.S. Constitution, principal framer of the Bill of Rights, and the fourth president of the United States (1809-1817), is the subject of this watercolor-on-ivory miniature created by Charles Willson Peale in 1783. This portrait, the earliest known life-portrait of James Madison, is connected to a story of failed romance. Peale painted this portrait of Madison, then thirty-two, along with a matching one of Madison’s fiancé, sixteen-year-old Catherine, “Kitty” Floyd. Madison would have carried Floyd’s portrait, and she would have carried his during their engagement. When Floyd broke off the engagement in August of 1783 the two returned the miniature portraits to one another. Both miniatures are currently held by the Library of Congress.