Rembrandt Peale (February 22, 1778 – October 3, 1860) was an American artist and museum keeper. A prolific portrait painter, he was especially acclaimed for his likenesses of presidents

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

and

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

. Peale's style was influenced by French neoclassicism after a stay in Paris in his early thirties.

Early life and education

Peale was born on February 22, 1778, near present-day Richboro, Pennsylvania, in

Bucks County, Pennsylvania Bucks County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the List of counties in Pennsylvania, four ...

, the third of six surviving children (11 had died) to his mother, Rachel Brewer, and father,

Charles Willson Peale Charles Willson Peale (April 15, 1741 – February 22, 1827) was an American painter, military officer, scientist, and naturalist. In 1775, inspired by the American Revolution, Peale moved from his native Maryland to Philadelphia, where he set ...

, in Bucks County. His father was also a notable artist, and named him after the noted 17th-century Dutch painter and engraver

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

Harmenszoon van Rijn. His father also taught all of his children, including

Raphaelle Peale Raphaelle Peale (sometimes spelled Raphael Peale; February 17, 1774 – March 4, 1825) is considered the first professional American painter of still-life. Biography Peale was born in Annapolis, Maryland, the fifth child, though eldest survivin ...

, Rubens Peale, and

Titian Peale Titian Ramsay Peale (November 17, 1799 – March 13, 1885) was an American artist, naturalist, and explorer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a scientific illustrator whose paintings and drawings of wildlife are known for their beauty and ...

, to paint scenery and portraiture, and tutored Rembrandt in the arts and sciences. Rembrandt began drawing at the age of eight. A year after his mother's death and the remarriage of his father, Peale left the school of the arts, and completed his first self-portrait at the age of 13. The canvas displays the young artist's early mastery. The clothes, however, give the notion that Peale exaggerated what a 13-year-old would look like, and Peale's hair curls like the hair of a Renaissance angel. Later in his life, Peale "often showed this painting to young beginners, to encourage them to go from 'bad' to better..."

Career

In July 1787, Charles Willson Peale introduced his son Rembrandt to

, and the young aspirant artist watched his father paint the future president. In 1795, at the age of 17, Rembrandt painted an aging Washington, making him appear far more aged than in reality. The portrait was well received, and Rembrandt had made his debut. In 1822, Peale moved to New York City, where he embarked on an attempt to paint what he hoped would become the "standard likeness" of Washington. He studied portraits by other artists including

John Trumbull John Trumbull (June 6, 1756 – November 10, 1843) was an American painter and military officer best known for his historical paintings of the American Revolutionary War, of which he was a veteran. He has been called the "Painter of the Revolut ...

Gilbert Stuart Gilbert Stuart ( Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter born in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-k ...

and his own father, as well as his own 1795 picture which had never truly satisfied him. His resulting work ''Patriae Pater'', completed in 1824, depicts Washington through an oval window, and is considered by many to be second only to Gilbert Stuart's iconic Athenaeum painting of the first president. Peale subsequently attempted to capitalize on the success of what quickly became known as his "Porthole" picture. ''Patriae Pater'' (Latin for "Father of Our Country") was purchased by Congress in 1832 for $2,000. It currently hangs in the Old Senate Chamber. In 1826, he helped found the National Academy of Design in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Peale went on to create over 70 detailed replicas, including one of Washington in full military uniform that currently hangs in the

Oval Office The Oval Office is the formal working space of the president of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C. The oval room has three lar ...

. Peale continued to paint other noted portraits, such as those of the third president Thomas Jefferson while he was in office (1805), and later on a portrait of Chief Justice

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American statesman, jurist, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth chief justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remai ...

Travels

Noted for his "itinerant" nature, Peale visited Europe several times to study art (Ward). Throughout his life, Peale traveled across the western hemisphere in search of inspiration and opportunities as an artist. His father helped pay his way to Paris, where he stayed from June to September 1808, and again from October 1809 to November 1810. In Paris, Peale studied the works of

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

, which influenced him to paint in the Neoclassical style. He painted the famous explorer

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

and several other noted patrons such as

Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac ( , ; ; 6 December 1778 – 9 May 1850) was a French chemist and physicist. He is known mostly for his discovery that water is made of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen by volume (with Alexander von Humboldt), f ...

and

François André Michaux François André Michaux (16 August 1770 – 23 October 1855) was a French people, French botany, botanist, son of André Michaux and the namesake of Michaux State Forest in Pennsylvania. Michaux ''père'' botanized in North America for nearl ...

. After his successes in France, Peale returned to Philadelphia in 1810. The roman daughter rembrandt peale

His efforts to establish his knowledge and mastery of art were displayed in his painting ''The Roman Daughter'' (1811). The painting depicts a young girl shielding her father, a prisoner in chains, and feeding him from her breast, the emblem of " Roman Charity" reported in the pages of Pliny. It was deemed too "sensational" by the people of Philadelphia, who were unsympathetic to his endeavors toward "improving the state of fine arts in America" in the 19th century. Amid the economic hardship of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, President Jefferson—who promised to buy the 1795 portrait of Washington, but could not keep his promise—instead encouraged Peale to go to Europe, as "we have genius among us but no unemployed wealth to reward it".

Peale's Baltimore Museum

Motivated by his father's establishment of the Philadelphia Museum (1786) and having been unsuccessful in Philadelphia, Rembrandt Peale assumed his father's role in another city. On August 15, 1814, Peale launched his first museum as soon as he arrived in the municipality of

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, Maryland on Holliday Street between East Saratoga and Lexington Streets, the first building constructed in America to serve as a museum. It later served as the second Baltimore City Hall, 1830–1875; a "Colored" primary, grammar, and high school, part of Baltimore's segregated public school system, 1878–1889; and was restored in 1931 as the Municipal Museum of the City of Baltimore. Renovated and restored again in 1981, it reopened with a groundbreaking interpretive history exhibition, "Rowhouse: A Baltimore Style of Living." In 1985, the Municipal Museum, which had grown to five sites (Peale Museum, Carroll Mansion, 1840 House, Baltimore Center for Urban Archaeology, and H.L. Mencken House) was renamed Baltimore City Life Museums. It closed in 1997, a year after opening a new 30,000sf exhibition center. The museum was elaborately illuminated by gas light, following the example of his brother

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

in Philadelphia. This innovation made a great impression. Peale had acquired an important gas lighting patent, and with some associates founded the successful Gas Light Company of Baltimore. Having poor business sense, though, he did little to manage the company and was forced out after a few years due to the War of 1812. In 1828, an ambitious Peale raised funds and tried earning money for his previous paintings, in order to travel to Rome. He took along his 15-year-old son, Michael Angelo, a determined young artist who copied his father's paintings in admiration. Peale successfully displayed portraits of Horatio Greenough and Washington as ''Patriæ Pater'' in the Florentine academy. RPeale-Crop

In the last years of his life, Peale published memories of his life and travels as a series in '' The Crayon'', an arts periodical. At the age of 82, Peale died on October 3, 1860, at his house on 1506 Vine St in Philadelphia. He is buried at Woodlands Cemetery in West Philadelphia.

Works

Exhibited and discussed in "In Pursuit of Fame: Rembrandt Peale 1778–1860," Washington D.C., National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian institution, 1992–93, The portrait of Margaret Irvine Miller exemplifies Peale's ability to convey a story and capture character through taking liberty with the way in which he portrayed his sitters. Mrs. Miller, by birth working-class, later raised her position in Philadelphia society. Though her clothing is aristocratic, Mrs. Miller's pose and gaze are those of a straightforward, working-class woman. The subtle juxtaposition is masterfully captured in the finest of terms. Rembrandt Peale - Rubens Peale with a Geranium - Google Art Project

Rembrandt Peale - Rubens Peale with a Geranium - Google Art Project

In 1801, Peale painted a portrait of his brother

, youngest of the six Peale children, who always had an admiration for gardening and tending to natural life. Peale seated his brother next to a

geranium ''Geranium'' is a genus of 422 species of annual, biennial, and perennial plants that are commonly known as geraniums or cranesbills. They are found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, with the gre ...

. The painting signifies the artist's admiration for a sibling's love of nature, and may have been inspired by the Dutch 17th-century artist, David Teniers the Younger, who had painted a series of oil-on-copper paintings representing the five senses. His painting, ''Smell'' is quite similar to Rembrandt Peale's. Rembrandt's piece captures the essence of a young gardener/artist's peace of mind, gracefully looking out, a posture of wonder and calmness. In 1824, Peale painted the ''Patriæ Pater'', in which a rectangle supporting an oval wreath surrounds the eye-catching image of George Washington. The most successful painting of Peale's 50-year career, it inspired

to have his portrait done by Peale in the same fashion. The painting was criticized as lacking authenticity, as it was not completed until after Washington's death (1799). Nonetheless, Peale received commendations for his portrait by many noted politicians such as Washington's nephew, Judge Bushrod Washington, who was an associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice, and Marshall. Peale's neoclassical painting ''The Roman Daughter'' demonstrates compassion and graceful defense; his copy of

Correggio Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter who was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Renaissance, who was responsible for som ...

's Angel, and his immense allegorical painting, '' Court of Death'' (1820), reveal the same artistic style.

Personal life

At the age of 20, Peale married 22-year-old Eleanor May Short (1776–1836) at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. During their marriage, Peale and Short had nine children: Rosalba, Eleanor, Michael Angelo, Angelica, and Emma Clara among them. In 1840, he married Harriet Cany (1799–1869), one of his pupils and an artist in her own right.

Legacy

Rembrandt Peale completed more than 600 paintings. He painted portraits of many notable people, including American presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Chief Justice John Marshall, and John C. Calhoun. His paintings are in many public collections.

Collections

Rembrandt Peale - Portrait of Rosalba Peale - Google Art Project

Rembrandt Peale - Portrait of Edward Shippen Burd of Philadelphia - Google Art Project

The following is a partial list of collections holding works by Rembrandt Peale: *Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art and National Portrait Gallery, The

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

*Baltimore, Maryland: The Peale Museum,

Baltimore Museum of Art The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of modern art, ...

, Maryland Historical Society,

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum is a public art museum located in the Mount Vernon, Baltimore, Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Founded and opened in 1934, it holds collections from the mid-19th century that were amassed substantially ...

*Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Atwater Kent Museum, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts *Detroit, Michigan:

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...

*Columbus, Georgia: The Columbus Museum *Birmingham, Alabama: Birmingham Museum of Art *New York: Brooklyn Museum, The Peale Museum of New York *

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the outlet of the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, which empties into Long Island Sound. The cit ...

: Lyman Allyn Art Museum *Dallas, Texas: The Dallas Museum of Art Modern American Collection *Pittsfield, Massachusetts: Berkshire Museum *Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: La Salle University Art Museum *Williamsburg, Virginia: Muscarelle Museum of Art at William & Mary *Wilmington, Delaware: Hagley Museum and Library and Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library *Saint Louis, Missouri: Saint Louis Art Museum

Other notable paintings

* ''Charles Willson Peale,''

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historic research facility headquartered on Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chron ...

, Philadelphia, 1812 * ''Washington Before Yorktown,''

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art is a former art museum in Washington, D.C., that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Founded in 1869 by philanthropist William Wilson Corco ...

, 1824 * ''John C. Calhoun,'' Gibbes Museum of Art, 1834 * ''The Sisters, Eleanor and Rosalba Peale,'' A. Augustus Healy Fund,

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

, 1826 * ''General Thomas Sumter,'' Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia, 1796 * ''Mrs. Marbury,'' Private Collection, 1797 * ''Sculpture,'' Atwater Kent Museum, Philadelphia, * ''DeWitt Clinton,'' Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1823 * '' Mary Jane Peale,'' Elise Peale Patterson de Golpi-Toro, New York, 1835 * ''Eleanor May Short Peale,'' Private Collection, 1836 * ''William Henry Harrison,'' Grouseland (William Henry Harrison House), Vincennes, IN

A portrait identified

A painting of a comedian who was an acquaintance of the British painter George Clint—an artist whose style resembled Peale's, and who claimed the picture as his own—was examined by the National Portrait Gallery of London in 1914. It was initially confirmed as Clint's artwork. Later, the gallery further examined the history behind the painting: the English comedian, Charles Mathews, had arrived in New York in 1822, and left shortly after Peale had welcomed him for a portrait painting."Meschutt, David." “Rembrandt Peale's Portrait of Charles Mathews, British Comedian, Identified.” American Art Journal, Vol. 21, No. 3. (1989), pp. 74–79.

Gallery

File:Working sketch of the mastodon rembrandt peale.jpg, ''Working Sketch of the Mastodon'' (1801) File:Rembrandt Peale - Thomas Jefferson - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

'' (1800) File:Samuel Fisher Bradford by Rembrandt Peale .jpg, ''Samuel Fisher Bradford'' (1803–1808) File:Albert Gallatin, by Rembrandt Peale, from life, 1805.jpg, ''Albert Gallatin'' (1805) File:Portrait of Margaret Irvine Miller, by Rembrandt Peale, 1805.jpg, ''Portrait of Margaret Irvine Miller'' (1805) File:Portrait of William Short.jpg, ''Portrait of William Short'' (1806) File:Rembrandt Peale - Portrait of Henry Robinson - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Portrait of Henry Robinson'' (1806–1808) File:Rembrandt Peale - Rubens Peale - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Portrait of Rubens Peale'' (1807) File:Alida Livingston Armstrong and Daughter.jpeg, ''Alida Livingston Armstrong and Daughter'' () File:Boy from the Taylor Family.jpeg, ''Boy from the Taylor Family'' (1812) File:Rembrandt Peale - William Henry Harrison - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was the ninth president of the United States, serving from March 4 to April 4, 1841, the shortest presidency in U.S. history. He was also the first U.S. president to die in office, causin ...

'' (1814) File:Rembrandt Peale - Portrait of Jacob Gerard Koch.jpg, ''Portrait of Jacob Gerard Koch'' () File:Rembrandt Peale - Portrait of Jane Griffith Koch.jpg, ''Portrait of Jane Griffith Koch'' () File:General Samuel Smith Rembrandt Peale.jpeg, ''General Samuel Smith'' () File:Charles Mathews by Rembrandt Peale.jpg, '' Charles Mathews'' () File:DeWitt Clinton by Rembrandt Peale.jpg, ''

Portrait of DeWitt Clinton ''Portrait of DeWitt Clinton'' is an 1823 portrait painting of by the American artist Rembrandt Peale. It depicts the politician DeWitt Clinton who served as Mayor of New York City three times as well as Governor of New York twice, noted for the c ...

'' () File:Washington Before Yorktown Rembrandt Peale 1823.jpeg, ''Washington Before Yorktown'' (1823) File:Michael Angelo and Emma Clara Peale.jpg, ''Michelangelo and Emma Clara Peale'' (1826) File:Rembrandt Peale - The Sisters (Eleanor and Rosalba Peale) - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Sisters (Eleanor and Rosalba Peale)'' (1826) File:David Hosack by Rembrandt Peale.jpg, ''Portrait of Dr. David Hosack'' (1826) File:Horace Hayden, painting by Rembrandt Peale.jpg, '' Horace H. Hayden'' (1829) File:Portrait_of_Raja_Ram_Mohun_Roy,_1833.jpg, '' Raja Rammohan Roy'' (1833) File:John C Calhoun Rembrandt Peale 1834.jpeg, '' John C. Calhoun'' (1834) File:Caroline Louisa Pratt Bartlett by Rembrandt Peale - BMA.jpg, ''Caroline Louisa Pratt Bartlett'' (1836) File:Girl at a Window (Rosalba Peale).jpg, ''Girl at a Window ( Rosalba Peale)'' (1846) File:Bonhams - Rembrandt Peale (American, 1778-1860) Niagara Falls 18 x 24in.jpg, ''Niagara Falls'' (1849) File:Portraits of Richard Colgate Dale Jr and Elizabeth Woodruff Dale by Rembrandt Peale.jpg, Portraits of ''Richard Colgate Dale Jr'' and ''Elizabeth Woodruff Dale'' (1857)

Notes

References

*Hunter, Jr., Wilbur H. "Peale's Baltimore Museum." College Art Journal, Vol. 12, No. 1. (Autumn, 1952), pp. 31–36 *Mahey, John A. "The Studio of Rembrandt Peale." American Art Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2. (Autumn, 1969), pp. 20–40. *Meschutt, David." "Rembrandt Peale's Portrait of Charles Mathews, British Comedian, Identified." American Art Journal, Vol. 21, No. 3. (1989), pp. 74–79. *Miller, Lillian B. ''Rembrandt Peale: A Life in the Arts: 1778–1860''. The Historical Society of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, 1985 *Soltis, Carol Eaton. "Rembrandt Peale's ''Rubens Peale with a Geranium'': A Possible Source in David Teniers the Younger". ''American Art Journal'', Vol. 33, No. 1/2. (2002), pp. 4–19 * Ward, David C. ''Charles Willson Peale: Art and Selfhood in the Early Republic'' Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2004. *Ward, David C. "Celebration of Self: The Portraiture of Charles Willson Peale and Rembrandt Peale, 1822–27." American Art, Vol. 7, No. 1. (Winter, 1993), pp. 8–27.

External links

*Th
Rembrandt And Harriet Peale Papers, 1824–1932
have been digitized and posted online by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

*
Rembrandt Peale Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peale, Rembrandt 1778 births 1860 deaths 18th-century American painters 18th-century American male artists 19th-century American male artists 19th-century American painters American curators American male painters American neoclassical painters American portrait painters Artists from Philadelphia Burials at The Woodlands Cemetery Directors of museums in the United States

People from Bucks County, Pennsylvania Sibling artists