Charles Wilson Peale

Photograph Dale DiMauro

Last April my wife and I took the Amtrak to Philadelphia, PA. We toured the city largely by foot, primarily exploring the historic sites. I had won two free nights at a hotel of my choosing. So Philadelphia seemed like a logical destination as Spring would be further along than here in Vermont.

While touring some of the old buildings we came upon an exhibit featuring the portraits of Charles Wilson Peale(1741-1827). I learned that he was not only a painter, but a scientist, inventor, politician and naturalist.

However, we learned that he was a prolific, portrait painter. He is best known as a painter of the leading figures of the American Revolution including close to sixty portraits of George Washington.  In addition, Peale painted Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton amongst others. 

Recently, I learned that Peale's full-length portrait, Washington at Princeton, painted in 1779, sold for $21.3 million. This sale, in January 2005, set a record for the highest price paid for an American portrait.

These paintings are not watercolors but done in oil.