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Lot Essay
At the turn of the nineteenth century, portrait painting was considered to be of great importance and highly regarded by those who could afford art. Yet, "all of his life, Peale was to feel that art ought to fulfill some moral, spiritual, or patriotic purpose that lay beyond the ken of simple portraiture." (L.B. Miller, Rembrandt Peale 1778-1860: A Life in the Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1985, p. 20) These qualities permeate Peale's work and manifest themselves in his portraits of George Washington.
Washington sat for Rembrandt Peale three times in the autumn of 1795. From this life portrait and from his father's portraits of Washington, Peale painted in 1824 one of his most important works, the Patriae Pater. Upon completion of the portrait he wrote, "Never was a portrait painted under any circumstances in which the whole of the Artist was more engaged than mine in that of Washington." (Rembrandt Peale to Bushrod Washington, January 12, 1824, DLC: Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection, F:VA/3F14-G1) It was this portrait of George Washington that was to become arguably Peale's most successful work.
By the 1840s, copies of his own works and those of other artists had become a valuable tool in Rembrandt Peale's career. It was at this time that he began to paint the "porthole" portraits of George Washington from his own Patriae Pater and life portraits as well as those of his father. These works not only supplied Peale with considerable income, they reaffirmed the success of the federally acquired Patriae Pater and that of the artist.
Washington sat for Rembrandt Peale three times in the autumn of 1795. From this life portrait and from his father's portraits of Washington, Peale painted in 1824 one of his most important works, the Patriae Pater. Upon completion of the portrait he wrote, "Never was a portrait painted under any circumstances in which the whole of the Artist was more engaged than mine in that of Washington." (Rembrandt Peale to Bushrod Washington, January 12, 1824, DLC: Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection, F:VA/3F14-G1) It was this portrait of George Washington that was to become arguably Peale's most successful work.
By the 1840s, copies of his own works and those of other artists had become a valuable tool in Rembrandt Peale's career. It was at this time that he began to paint the "porthole" portraits of George Washington from his own Patriae Pater and life portraits as well as those of his father. These works not only supplied Peale with considerable income, they reaffirmed the success of the federally acquired Patriae Pater and that of the artist.