Peale, Charles Willson

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Peale, Charles Willson (1741–1827) US painter, inventor, naturalist, and father of a family of artists. In 1782, Peale opened the USA's first art gallery, in Philadelphia, where he exhibited his own portraits. He later expanded the gallery into the country's first natural history museum. In 1795, he painted his most celebrated picture, The Staircase Group, a portrait of two of his sons.

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