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Charles Willson Peale (April 15, 1741 – February 22, 1827) was an American painter, soldier, scientist, inventor, politician, and naturalist. In 1775, inspired by the American Revolution, Peale moved from his native Maryland to Philadelphia, where he set up a painting studio and joined the Sons of Liberty.
Charles Willson Peale was an American painter best remembered for his portraits of the leading figures of the American Revolution and as the founder of the first major museum in the United States. As a young man, Peale worked as a saddler, watchmaker, and silversmith.
Of the three most talented painters born in the British colonies of North America, Charles Willson Peale, Benjamin West and John Singleton Copley, only Peale remained in America after the Revolution.
Charles Willson Peale is best remembered for his monumental portraits of George Washington and other Revolutionary War--era figures, and for organizing and opening America’s first natural history and art museums in Baltimore and Philadelphia.
Charles Willson Peale—artist, Maryland native, radical patriot, inventor, and naturalist—was one figure who helped shape American self-perception. Peale was the first to provide authentic images of George Washington as well as other Revolutionary War heroes.
Inspired by eighteenth-century Enlightenment ideals celebrating humankind’s capacity to learn and use new information, the artist Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) conceived his Philadelphia Museum. In it, Peale intended the works of man and nature to coexist for the edification of all.
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827), one of the most gifted of early American artists, was a man of many talents. He studied painting with Benjamin West in London for only two and one half years. Later he pursued a military career during the American Revolution, and served as a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly.
