Lot Essay
Rembrandt Peale painted his first portrait, a self-portrait, at the age of thirteen in 1791. This was for Peale the beginning of what would become a successful lifelong career in portrait painting.
Peale's father, Charles Willson Peale, was considered one of the most influential and important portrait painters of his time. Rembrandt "was born into a household where literature, art, and science not only provided common subjects for discussion but permeated the day-to-day experiences of family members." (L.B. Miller, In Pursuit of Fame: Rembrandt Peale 1778-1860, Washington, DC, 1992, p. 18) Charles' success and influence had an enormous impact on his son Rembrandt. It became clear at a very early age that Rembrandt had talent and was to follow in his father's footsteps.
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 possibly 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 and Martha 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 himself.
To the American public, George Washington "was as much a symbolic entity as an individual out of history, having gained fame through his repeated ability to both exercise power successfully and then relinquish it gracefully. He manifested the republican virtues of fortitude, self-mastery, resoluteness, immunity to political ambition, moderation, impeccable public conduct, self-sacrifice on his nation's behalf, and even piety." (L.B. Miller, In Pursuit of Fame, p. 281)
As a pair, the portraits of George and Martha Washington are even more significant. So much emphasis was placed on the esteemed qualities portrayed in the portraits of Washington, that the partner portrait of Martha was often seperated and even discarded. Yet, both portraits, surrounded by a solid framework of stone, portray the sense of stablilty and virtue that Americans valued. Peale has given these portraits the "moral, spiritual, [and] patriotic purpose" he sought to create in his art.
Peale's father, Charles Willson Peale, was considered one of the most influential and important portrait painters of his time. Rembrandt "was born into a household where literature, art, and science not only provided common subjects for discussion but permeated the day-to-day experiences of family members." (L.B. Miller, In Pursuit of Fame: Rembrandt Peale 1778-1860, Washington, DC, 1992, p. 18) Charles' success and influence had an enormous impact on his son Rembrandt. It became clear at a very early age that Rembrandt had talent and was to follow in his father's footsteps.
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 possibly 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 and Martha 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 himself.
To the American public, George Washington "was as much a symbolic entity as an individual out of history, having gained fame through his repeated ability to both exercise power successfully and then relinquish it gracefully. He manifested the republican virtues of fortitude, self-mastery, resoluteness, immunity to political ambition, moderation, impeccable public conduct, self-sacrifice on his nation's behalf, and even piety." (L.B. Miller, In Pursuit of Fame, p. 281)
As a pair, the portraits of George and Martha Washington are even more significant. So much emphasis was placed on the esteemed qualities portrayed in the portraits of Washington, that the partner portrait of Martha was often seperated and even discarded. Yet, both portraits, surrounded by a solid framework of stone, portray the sense of stablilty and virtue that Americans valued. Peale has given these portraits the "moral, spiritual, [and] patriotic purpose" he sought to create in his art.