COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0000301
image_record_id
aahi0000301
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
Portrait of Mordecai Gist
Image Title:
full view
Work Dates (display):
ca. 1774
Work Dates type:
creation
Work Creator (display):
Charles Willson Peale (American, 1741-1827)
Work Creator gender:
male
work_creator_or_agent_gender
male
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
Painter and museum founder. After serving as a saddler's apprentice in Annapolis, MD, from 1754 to 1761, he worked at various trades, including painting signs and portraits. In 1766 some prominent Marylanders underwrote his studies in London with Benjamin West, from whom he absorbed the fundamentals of the British portrait tradition. Peale probably attended the informal life classes offered at St Martin's Lane Academy, precursor to the Royal Academy Schools, and drew from casts in the Duke of Richmond's collection in Whitehall. He visited the studios of such important British portrait painters as Joshua Reynolds, Francis Cotes and Allan Ramsay and studied the techniques of miniature painting, sculpture and engraving. In London he executed his first major commission, a full-length allegorical portrait of William Pitt, Lord Chatham (1768; Montross, VA, Westmoreland Co. Mus.), from which he engraved a mezzotint. In 1769 Peale returned to Annapolis; his portrait of Mrs Thomas Harwood (1771; New York, Met.), with its careful drawing, delicate colours and elegance of pose and materials, reveals his debt to both West and Reynolds as well as his mastery of the subtleties of English 18th-century portraiture. He introduced into America the British conversation piece, of which The Stewart Children (177075; Lugano, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza priv. col.) is a fine example, and the heroic portrait, such as that of John Beale Bordley (1770; Barra Found., Washington, DC, N.G.A.), in which he symbolically expressed American opposition to British Colonial control. The first artist to paint George Washington (1772; Lexington, VA, Washington & Lee U., Chapel Mus.), between 1779 and 1795 he executed six more life portraits of America's hero; especially important are the great portrait of 1779 celebrating the Princeton victory (Philadelphia, PA Acad. F.A.) and the sitting of 1795 idealizing the civilian leader (New York, NY Hist. Soc.). In 1776 Peale moved to Philadelphia. During the Revolution he served in the Pennsylvania militia and participated in radical politics. Between 1788 and 1791 he painted a particularly fine group of domestic portraits, for example the complex and elegant Robert Goldsborough Family (1789; priv. col., see Richardson, Hindle and Miller, pp. 21415). From 1791 to 1810 he concentrated on his museum, originally established in 1784 as a portrait gallery, and gave primary attention to inventions, natural historyworking with William Bartram on Alexander Wilson's American Ornithologyand art institutions: the Columbianum Society (1795) and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1805). His discovery in 1801 of mastodon bones influenced the scientific debate over the extinction of species and provided the subject for The Exhumation of the Mastodon (18058; Baltimore, MD, Peale Mus.), a large painting that combined portraits of family members with landscape in order to convey moral significance. Peale's enthusiasm for painting was rekindled when he retired to his farm, Belfield, in 1810. Experimenting with lighting effects and new colouring methods that he had learnt from his son (4) Rembrandt Peale, he produced some of his most artistically important works: Hannah Moore (Mrs Charles Willson) Peale (1816; Boston, MA, Mus. F.A.), James Peale by Candlelight (1822; Detroit, MI, Inst. A.) and his famous self-portrait The Artist in his Museum (1822; Philadelphia, PA Acad. F.A.; see fig. 1). Towards the end of his life he painted charming landscapes such as Belfield (181518; Detroit, MI, Inst. A.). Peale's best work reveals a command of technique and composition, as in the Staircase Group (1795; Philadelphia, PA, Mus. A.), a trompe l'oeil vertical double portrait of his sons (3) Raphaelle Peale and Titian Ramsay Peale (i) (178098), life-size and depicted on a winding staircase ascending from a doorway, at the base of which an actual step completes the sense of verisimilitude. So faithful is Peale's rendering of both figures and objects in the painting that it is said that President Washington, on visiting Peale's museum, bowed to the boys as he passed. Group portraits such as The Peale Family (c.177073 and 1808; New York, NY Hist. Soc.; see fig. 2) possess a delightful pictorial quality, while his clear colour, naturalistic poses and sensitivity to the relationship between the individual and nature render his paintings lively and frequently beautiful. During his lifetime, he painted over a thousand works, many the only life portraits existing of American military and political leaders. Peale married three times and had eleven surviving children. Three sons became prominent artists, and two, Titian Ramsay Peale (i) and Titian Ramsay Peale (ii) (17991885), were fine naturalist-artists. (Grove Art Online Accessed 2006-07-26)
Work Style Period:
18th century
work_styleperiod
18th century
Work Style Period
false
Work Subject:
American Revolution, 1775-1783
subject
American Revolution, 1775-1783
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
Gist, Mordecai (1742-1792)
subject
Gist, Mordecai (1742-1792)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
compasses (drawing instruments)
subject
compasses (drawing instruments)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
military history
subject
military history
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
tricornes
subject
tricornes
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
United States history
subject
United States history
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
ships
subject
ships
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
hats
subject
hats
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
portraits
subject
portraits
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
books
subject
books
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
men (male humans)
subject
men (male humans)
Work Subject
false
Work Worktype:
oil paintings
work_type
oil paintings
Work Worktype
false
Work Worktype:
paintings (visual works)
work_type
paintings (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
paintings
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
paintings
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Work Material and Technique (display):
oil on canvas
Work Measurements (display):
76.2 cm (H) x 63.5 cm (W)
Work Location (Repository or Site) name:
M.H. De Young Memorial Museum
Work Location (Repository or Site) role:
repository
Work Location (Repository or Site) refid:
1979.7.79
Work Location (Repository or Site) refid type:
accession
Work Location (Geographic) name:
San Francisco, California
Image Rights (display):
© Ronald Wiedenhoeft. Licensed for educational use via Scholars Resource: Saskia, Ltd.
Image Rights license agreement:
SASKIA, LTD.: WHO CAN USE THIS SOFTWARE: (a) Licensee, including faculty, staff and currently enrolled students may use the Licensed Software to display and or print the corresponding graphic images without limitation for teaching and research purposes at the defined Sites, or at remote locations having electronic access to your Site(s). (b) This license include permission to use the Licensed Software on a multi-user network at the defined Site, and to permit remote access to a computer/server located at your Site. Simultaneous display in multiple locations at or connected to the Site is also permitted. (c) Licensee agrees to employ reasonable security measures designed to limit access to your faculty, staff and currently enrolled students. PROHIBITED USES AND LIMITATIONS: (a) Saskia hereby reserves all rights not expressly granted herein. (b) the License Software may not be used for preparaiton of any publication, scholarly or otherwise; or for any purpose other than teaching or research. Publication of an image from the Licensed Software requires a separate license from Saskia. (c) Licensee agrees not to resell, lease, transfer, sub-license or otherwise distribute a copy of the Licensed Software, or any image taken from the Licensed Software, in whole or in part. (d) Licensee also agrees not to modify, corrupt or alter any digital image graphic content or "digital watermark" or the like in the software provided by Saskia under this Agreement. (e) Licensee agrees not to remove, alter, cover or distort Saskia's copyright notice, trademark, or other proprietary rights notice placed by Saskia in the Licensed Software itself, or in the associated packaging, media or documentation. (f) And Licensee agrees to notify users of the Licensed Software, in writing or by sign-on screen display, of their obligations under this Agreement and solicit their cooperation and compliance with such obligations.
Work Rights (display):
public domain
Terms of Agreement and Conditions of Use:
YOU AGREE: Luna Imaging's Insight Software and the digital image collection associated with it (the Software) are being provided by the University of Colorado under the following license. By obtaining, using, and/or copying this work, you (the Licensee) agree that you have read, understood, and will comply with the following terms and conditions. 1. The Software contains the University of Colorado's Department of Art and Art History's implementation of a digital image collection; 2. Any images obtained through use of the Software will be used only for non-profit, educational purposes; 3. The use of images obtained through the software will only be used while the Licensee is either: a) an employee of the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver, or the Community College of Denver, or b) an enrolled student at the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver, or the Community College of Denver; 4. When the Licensee is no longer an employee or student of the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver or Community College of Denver, either by an action of the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver or the Community College of Denver or due to actions of the Licensee, the licensee will cease to use any images exported from the Department of Art and Art History's digital image collection; 5. The Licensee agrees to indemnify the University for claims and liability arising out of the use of the Software or for any violations of this license; 6. THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO SUPPLIES THE SOFTWARE WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
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Holding Institution:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Center
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see