Peale, Charles Willson

PEALE, CHARLES WILLSON. (1741–1827). Portrait painter, naturalist, Patriot. Maryland. Born on 15 April 1741 in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, Charles Willson Peale was son of a forger who had been shipped to America in 1735 as a punishment for his crimes. Charles Peale became a saddler, but his success as an amateur portrait painter encouraged him to seek instruction in art, and in 1767 he was accepted as a student of Benjamin West, in London. Three years later he returned to Maryland and soon was established as a portrait painter in the middle provinces. Early in 1776 he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where many prominent Patriots subsequently sat for him.

Peale enlisted in the Philadelphia militia in 1776 and was elected lieutenant. After taking part in the Trenton-Princeton campaign, he was promoted to captain of the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment of Foot. Until the British evacuation of Philadelphia, Captain Peale served with the army, and while in uniform he painted many miniatures of American officers. He also held a number of public offices, being chairman of the Constitutional Society and a representative in the Pennsylvania General Assembly from 1779 to 1781. Identified with the radical democrats, Peale lost his wealthier clients, forcing him to abandon politics entirely in 1787.

During the post-war depression he started engraving mezzotints of his portraits. At this time he also developed an interest in natural history after recovering and making drawings of two skeletons of mammoths. His art gallery became a repository of natural curiosities, and evolved into the Philadelphia Museum. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts owed its establishment in 1805 largely to Peale's efforts. Peale is best known for his many pictures of Washington. An estimated 60 such pictures were created between 1776 and 1795, and seven of these were done from life. Peale died in Philadelphia on 22 February 1827.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Miller, Lillian B., et al., eds., Selected Papers of Charles Willson Peale and His Family. 5 vols. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1983–2000.

Sellers, Charles C. Charles Willson Peale. New York: Scribner's, 1969.

                              revised by Michael Bellesiles