The Peale Family

Painted over three decades, Charles Willson Peale’s depiction of his family is the most ambitious group portrait by a colonial American artist. As a tour de force of artistic conception and technique, it went far to establish Peale as a master portraitist.

The artist appears at left, holding his palette and supervising the drawing made by his brothers, St. George and James. Seated in the middle of the scene is Rachel Brewer Peale, the artist's first wife; and their daughter, Margaret. To the right sit the artist's mother, Margaret; his sister, Elizabeth; and his daughter, Eleanor. Standing behind the table are the artist's sister, Margaret Jane; and the Peales' family nurse, Peggy Durgan. The artist's dog, Argus, sits in front of the table. The painting on the easel at left, depicting three maidens signifying the "Concordia Animae" or "agreement of the spirits," underscores the warmth of family ties. The three portrait busts depict Peale's teacher, Benjamin West; Peale himself; and one of Peale's earliest patrons, the Virginia-born lawyer Edmund Jennings. The table contains a fine still life that includes an apple peel, a visual pun on the family name.

The family portrait remained in Peale's possession throughout his life. Some thirty-five years after commencing the picture and after he had essentially retired from painting, Peale made adjustments to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. He repainted parts of the background and parts of his own likeness and added the profile of his beloved dog. By 1813 the portrait was installed in the Peale Museum, where it remained until it was purchased in 1854 by Thomas Jefferson Bryan. Bryan donated the painting, along with his entire art collection, to the New-York Historical Society in 1867.