In this imagined scene, the artist depicts Washington sitting at a tea table in the shade of his summer house, surrounded by friends and family with Mount Vernon in the background.  The title recalls the expression “the palmy days of yesteryear” and immediately evokes a sense of prosperity and harmony, or halcyon days, which is especially poignant considering Rossiter completed the painting in 1866 as the nation was beginning its long recovery from the devastation of the Civil War. Even though Rossiter supported the Union cause to end slavery, he chose to include an enslaved servant in the composition, an act which seems symbolically to erase the troubles facing the nation during reconstruction and harken back instead to a time when the Washingtons and their home represented an untroubled, idyllic, and indeed civilized past for all Americans to embrace. 

• Museum-quality giclée reproduction printed on heavy cotton canvas with archival pigment inks and semi-matte UV coating
• Hand-crafted stretched canvas print with 3" gold frame measures 30" x 42"