 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|||||
|
 |
 |
Biography of Rembrandt PealeName: Rembrandt PealeBirth Date: February 22, 1778 Death Date: October 3, 1860 Place of Birth: Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States Nationality: American Gender: Male Occupations: painter Rembrandt Peale The American painter Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860) was a competent, if uneven, portraitist. His earlier portraits are fresher and more expressive than his later ones.Rembrandt Peale was born in Bucks County, Pa., on Feb. 22, 1778. He studied first with his father, the renowned painter, Charles Willson Peale, and then with Benjamin West in England in 1801. He returned to the United States in 1804 and set up a studio in Philadelphia. An important work of this period is the graceful, richly handled portrait of Thomas Jefferson (1805) at the age of 62.Peale made two trips to France, in 1808 and 1809-1810, carrying letters from Jefferson, an intimate of his father. Peale came to know the painters Jacques Louis David and François Gérard, the sculptor Antonio Canova, and the American émigré painter John Vanderlyn. In Paris, Peale painted portraits of famous men for his father's museum. His work was sometimes marred by …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…was a hooded figure at whose feet a young man had been struck down. The dramatic contrast of lights and darks was typical of the romantic period in art, especially in Europe, but the allegorical mode was part of the sentiment of the republican era in America. The work was sent on tour as a "great moral painting." Further Reading A short sketch of Peale's life is in Municipal Museum of Baltimore, An Exhibition of Paintings by Rembrandt Peale (1937). There is information on him in Charles Coleman Sellers, Charles Willson Peale (2 vols., 1947; 1 vol., rev. ed. 1969), and Charles H. Elam, comp., The Peale Family: Three Generations of American Artists (1967). For a good discussion of Peale and the general historical background see Oliver W. Larkin, Art and Life in America (1949; rev. ed. 1960).Miller, Lillian B., In pursuit of fame: Rembrandt Peale, 1778-1860, Washington, D.C.: National Portrait Gallery; Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992. |