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Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Portrait Painting of Eleanor Roosevelt
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Portrait Painting of Eleanor Roosevelt

Artifact IDMO 1999.30
Object Type Painting
Artist (American, 1876-1940)
Date1933
Mediumpainting: board (Masonite), paint (oil)
frame: wood
Dimensionsframe H 44 3/4 in x W 38 1/2 in (113.7 cm x 97.8 cm )
 painting H 36 1/8 in x W 30 1/4 in (91.8 cm x 76.8 cm )
Physical DescriptionA delicately-colored oil on masonite portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt from the waist up, head facing forward with the body turned slightly to the left of the painting. She is shown wearing a white, softly draped, deep V-neck outfit over a white lace top. A long necklace with dark pink and gold beads hangs around her neck. The painting is unsigned.

The painting is framed in a 4½" ornate wood frame with a white, distressed finish.
Historical NoteThis was Franklin Roosevelt’s favorite portrait of his wife.

His son, Elliott, commissioned it shortly after FDR’s election to the presidency. The Roosevelt children presented it to their father as a birthday gift during a celebration at the family’s Hyde Park home on January 30, 1933.

Roosevelt shipped the painting to the White House, where he placed it in a prominent location in his private Study. It remained there until his death in 1945.

“You know, I’ve always liked that portrait,” he once remarked to Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. “It’s a beautiful portrait, don’t you think so? . . . You know the hair’s just right, isn’t it? Lovely hair! Eleanor has lovely hair, don’t you think so?”

Eleanor had a very different reaction to the portrait. When she first saw it she burst into tears. She told reporters she wanted to burn it “because it makes me look too pretty.” After FDR’s death, she gave the painting to Elliott.

The portrait closely resembles a 1927 photograph of Eleanor by Edward Steichen. Artist Otto Schmidt likely used that photo as a reference because Mrs. Roosevelt did not pose formally for him (though she did allow the painter to sketch her at St. James Church in Hyde Park and other social functions).

Schmidt was a prominent painter of business and social figures in the Philadelphia area.
Additional Details
Custodial History NotePurchased by the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute for the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Credit LineGift of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute
National Archives Catalog CollectionFranklin D. Roosevelt Library Museum Collection (National Archives Identifier 735948)
National Archives Catalog SeriesPortraits (National Archives Identifier 778816)
Use Restriction StatusUnrestrictedCopyrightReproduction or other use of these holdings or images thereof is unrestricted.
In Collection(s)
Exhibitions
On view