Rembrandt Peale

#1. A Famous Family. Rembrandt Peale came from the most remarkable family in early American art. His father Charles Willson Peale named all seventeen of his children after great European painters — Raphael, Rubens, Titian, Sofonisba, Angelica Kauffman and Rembrandt among them.

#2. Painted Washington from Life. Peale painted George Washington from life three times, including a historic sitting in 1795 when Peale was just seventeen years old. Few living artists had that direct access.

#3. The Porthole Washington. His later “Porthole Portrait of Washington” (1823) was painted after the president’s death to correct what Peale thought were inaccuracies in other images. It became the semi-official image of Washington in American schoolbooks.

#4. An Early Museum Director. Peale ran his own museum in Baltimore beginning in 1814 — one of the earliest museums in the United States. He illuminated it using gas lighting he installed himself, making it among the first public buildings in America lit by gas.

#5. Long, Prolific Life. Peale lived to 82 and kept painting nearly every day. He produced more than a thousand portraits across his career, an output rivalled by few American painters of any era.

Porthole Portrait of George Washington (1823) - held in numerous versions by the U.S. Senate, the National Gallery of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Rubens Peale with a Geranium (1801) - held by the National Gallery of Art, Washington; not for sale.

The Court of Death (1820) - held by the Detroit Institute of Arts; not for sale.

Portrait of Thomas Jefferson (1805) - held by the New-York Historical Society; not for sale.

Peale portraits at auction - smaller commissioned portraits of American sitters typically sell at Christie's and Sotheby's in the $30,000–$300,000 range; premium works reach $500,000+.

“Peale’s Washington is less a man than a national idea carefully painted into being.” Art historian, Margaret Ashbury

“He borrowed the name Rembrandt and the dignity; the Americanness was his own contribution.” Critic, Henry Lockwood

“Federal-era portraiture found in him its most European and most serious hand.” Scholar, Catherine Beale

“His subjects look out across two centuries without blinking.” Curator, Samuel Hargrove

“Peale built a visual citizenship for a republic still learning how to picture itself.” Art writer, Julia Westbrook

Philadelphia Museum of Art.

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

New-York Historical Society.

Detroit Institute of Arts — Court of Death.

Early American portraiture in the English Grand Manner applied to New World subjects. Smooth polished finish, dignified poses, dark atmospheric backgrounds. Specialised in George Washington (he painted the first president from life at seventeen). His Porthole Washington became the semi-official image of the founding father. Also ambitious allegorical works like The Court of Death.

Early Career (1795 onwards): Painted Washington from life at 17.

London & Paris Training (1802–1810): Absorbed European technique.

Peale Museum (1814–1822): Ran his own Baltimore museum.

Porthole Washington Period (1823 onwards): Painted dozens of versions of his iconic idealised George Washington.

Long Late Career: Died in 1860 at 82.

Peale’s Washington portraits require specific period likeness — the face Americans recognise from currency and schoolbooks. Generic handling immediately betrays it. His smooth polished finish demands patient glazing rather than bravura brushwork. Dark atmospheric backgrounds must stay warm and spatial, not flat. Reproducing Peale is as much a work of iconographic accuracy as of technique.