Saturday, April 05, 2003

Not a JAMA Art History Lesson: I really miss posting the weekly art history lesson from JAMA. Why they decided to include it in the subscription-only part of their website is a little baffling, since their other entertainment items are free. But, since riding on their coattails is no longer an option, I’m going to try my hand at an art history lesson of my own. Call it Medpundit’s weekly art history lesson. (With apologies to Dr. Southgate)

Charles Willson Peale (1741 - 1827) was the pre-eminent painter of early America and the founding father of a dynasty of American painters (four of his seventeen children, the aptly named Titian, Rubens, Raphaelle and Rembrandt Peale, became painters in their own right). He was also the embodiment of the quintessential American can-do spirit. Initially a saddler by trade, he decided to try his hand at painting after seeing some badly done portraits and thinking he could do better. He read what instructional manuals he could find, and then traded his finest saddle to a fellow Maryland resident and painter, John Hesselius for painting lessons. His reputation grew quickly, and soon a group of wealthy patrons sent him to England to study under Benjamin West. He returned to the North American colonies in 1769 and set up a portrait studio. It became his business to paint the prosperous in their best light.



In 1772, he was commissioned to paint the portrait of a Virginia squire named George Washington. (Click here for larger image.) The retired colonel was forty years old at the time of the painting, and owner of a prosperous plantation. He stands before the craggy Virginia landscape wearing his old scarlet and blue British militia uniform, his gun in his hand and his sword at his hip. In his pocket is a letter with a visible signature. Although it is difficult to make out the signature, it was Peale’s habit to paint his lesser-known subjects with a letter or paper that bore their name for easy recognition. Standing there in that common 18th century pose, his right hand tucked in his shirt-front, the Virginia planter looks like a man quite satisfied and content with his lot in life.



Seven years later, Peale had occasion to paint Washington again, this time wearing the blue and gold of the American Army, and against the backdrop of the battlefield of Princeton. (larger image) The sword is still at his hip, but the gun has been replaced with a cannon. The Stars-and-Stripes waves proudly over his shoulder, while at his feet lies the British flag. No need for an identifying letter this time. Instead, there’s a column of captured British troops marching neatly into his right coat pocket. He stands looking directly at the painter, the complacency and satisfaction of seven years earlier replaced with an attitude of confidence and steely determination. The transformation from Virginia squire to conquering hero is complete.

Charles Willson Peale went on to paint over a dozen more portraits of Washington, and many other patriots. Like many men of his time, he didn’t content himself with the pursuit of one interest. He also branched out into science, dabbled in inventing, and founded a museum in Philadelphia (which his descendants eventually sold to none other than P.T. Barnum.) Yet, it’s for his portraits that Charles Willson Peale is best remembered, and rightly so. For it is through his work that so much of our history remains alive.

[ed. note - changed later to include the images in the site. Finally learned how to do that.]

 

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