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Raphaelle
Peale, A Dessert (Still Life with Lemons and Oranges),
1814, oil on panel, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift
(Partial and Promised) of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz Jr. in memory
of Franklin D. Murphy 1999.44.1
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Raphaelle
Peale, American, 1774-1825
Raphaelle
Peale was America's first professional still-life painter. His father,
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827), was a well-known portrait painter,
naturalist, and one of revolutionary America's great cultural leaders.
The elder Peale painted a portrait
of Raphaelle at age twenty-one, showing him dressed as a gentleman
and holding the tools of his profession.
Charles
Willson Peale and most theorists of the era believed that still life was
a subject worthy only of amateurs. They considered portraiture to be more
admirable. Raphaelle's defiant pursuit of still life resulted in some
of the most beautiful American paintings of the nineteenth century.
 
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