John Ramage (1748 – 24 October 1802) was an Irish American artist, goldsmith, patroller, and second lieutenant. He was best known for painting portrait miniatures, and being the first artist to paint George Washington while serving as the President of the United States. Early life Ramage was born in Dublin, Ireland. He entered the Dublin Society of Artists in 1763 and began his career as a goldsmith and miniaturist. John moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1772, where he was sued for small debts in that year and in 1774. After relocating to Boston, Massachusetts, one year later, he painted miniatures on ivory, a very popular portrait style at the time. Ramage joined "the Loyal Irish Volunteers", in December 1775, a military unit defending Boston on behalf of the British Crown. He married Victoria Ball on 18 March 1776. Against United Colonies, Ramage, along with fellow Loyalist soldiers, evacuated from Boston to go back to Halifax, Great Britain's stronghold on 27 March 1776, known as the Siege of Boston. While in Halifax, he left Ball behind in Boston, to marry a woman whose real identity was never revealed, only known as "Mrs Taylor". They had two children together. Ball followed him to Halifax to obtain a divorce. Ramage left Halifax and went to New York City in June 1777, "to avoid the further Pursuits of the Law", according to Reverend Mather Byles of Halifax. While in New York, he was promoted as a second lieutenant for the City Militia and joined St. John's Masonic Lodge. On 29 January 1787, he remarried for the third time, to Catharine Collins. Between them, they had three children. Career After serving as second lieutenant, he decided to work on miniatures in the artistic, but small community of New York. He was widely established as the best artist in the city. After painting numerous miniature portraits of New York citizens, Martha Washington, wife of George Washington, decided to select Ramage to be the first artist to paint the 1st President of the United States in office. The sitting took place 3 October 1789, possibly at Washington's official residency at the Samuel Osgood House in New York City. Both Ramage and Washington were sharply dressed at the time of the sitting. Ramage developed two distinct miniatures of Washington. Ramage used ivory and gold to create his elliptical shaped miniatures. For ivory, he used delicately shaded cross-hatching