Charles Willson Peale - Most famous Pieces

Painter, naturalist, and museum founder, born in Queen Annes Co, Maryland, USA, the brother of James Peale. He began as a saddler (1762), then studied with John Hesselius in Philadelphia (c.1762) and with Benjamin West in London (1767–9). He settled in Annapolis, MD (1769–75) and painted many portraits. After service in the Continental army (1775–8), he established himself in Philadelphia (c.1778) and was a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly (Democrat, 1779–80). He established the Portrait Gallery of the Heroes of the Revolution (1782) and founded the Peale Museum of natural history and technology (1786). His most famous painting is ‘The Staircase Group’ (1795), an illusionist work portraying his sons Raphaelle and Titian Peale. Married three times, he had 17 children, many of whom became artists. A respected and prominent advocate of neoclassical ideals and social and political justice, his work is highly regarded.

Charles Willson Peale (April 15, 1741 – February 22, 1827) was an American painter, soldier and naturalist.

Peale was born in Chester, Queen Anne's County, Maryland the son of Charles Peale and his wife Margaret.

Finding that he had a talent for painting, especially portraiture, Peale studied for a time under John Hesselius and John Singleton Copley; The sons included Raphaelle Peale (1774-1825), Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860), Rubens Peale (1784-1865), Titian Peale (1799-1885). Among the daughters: Angelica Kauffman Peale married Alexander Robinson, and Priscilla Peale married Dr. Henry Boteler.

Peale's enthusiasm for the nascent national government brought him to the capital, Philadelphia, in 1776 where he painted portraits of American notables and visitors from overseas.

In 1778, his second son Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860), was born.

Peale was quite prolific as an artist, and while he did portraits of scores of historic figures (such as John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton), he is probably best known for his portraits of George Washington.

In 1791, he married Elizabeth de Peyster (d.1804), his second wife, with whom he had another six children.

In 1802, he had a daughter Elizabeth De Peyster Peale (1802-57), who married William Augustus Patterson (1792-1833), in 1820.

In 1804, he married a Quakeress from Philadelphia named Hannah More, who raised the children from his previous two marriages.

Peale could accurately be described as a "renaissance man", having developed a certain level of expertise in such diverse fields as carpentry, dentistry, optometry, shoemaking and taxidermy.

His brother-in-law was Congressman Nathaniel Ramsey

Most famous Pieces

Portrait of John and Elizabeth Lloyd Caldwater (1772)	The Exhumation of the Mastadon (1806)	George Washington at Princeton (1779)	Portrait of Thomas Jefferson (1791)
The Artist in His Museum (1822)	The Staircase Group (Portrait of Raphaelle Peale and Titian Ramsay Peale) (1795)	George Washington in uniform, as colonel of the First Virginia Regiment (1772)	Meriwether Lewis
William Clark	John Hancock	Thomas Jefferson	Charles Pettit (1792)
Henry Knox (1784)