The Peales rank among the most famous artistic families in American history. Patriarch Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827) is renowned for his portraits of George Washington, other integral figures in America’s independence, and his own family. The senior Peale was also a noted naturalist and innovative museum founder. Most of his 17 children were named after scientists, such as Charles Linnaeus, and Old Master painters, including Raphael, Titian, Sofonisba Anguissola, and Angelica Kauffman.
Several of Peale’s sons and daughters went on to forge distinguished artistic and scientific careers. The portraitist and history painter Rembrandt Peale (1778–1860) was the most successful. His depiction of his brother Rubens (1784–1865) with a flowering geranium is considered “among the finest portraits in the history of American art.”
