Women in the 19C United States of America: Women by American Artist James Peale (1749-1831)

Monday, February 28, 2022

Women by American Artist James Peale (1749-1831)

James Peale (1749-1831). Anna Sophia Alexander Robertson (Mrs. William Heberton) 1816

At the outset of his career, when he was working closely with his brother Charles Willson Peale, James Peale learned to paint both portraits & still-lifes, while he was making frames for his brother's works.

James Peale ( 1749-1831). Martha Washington (1731-1802) 1796
By the mid-1780s, James had established his own artistic reputation independent from his older brother Charles.

James Peale (1749-1831). The Ramsey-Polk Family in Cecil County, Maryland 1793
At about this time, Charles Willson Peale turned over his own miniature portrait practice to him; and throughout the 1790s & early 1800s, James Peale devoted himself to miniature painting. Much of this work was watercolor on ivory.

James Peale (1749-1831), Maria Bassett, 1801.
In 1795, Peale exhibited a still life of fruit along with 9 miniatures & his family portrait at the Columbianum, a short-lived art academy in Philadelphia.

James Peale (1749-1831). Eliza Hughes
Around 1810, as Peale's eyesight began to weaken, he gave up painting miniatures to turn to larger portraits & still-life subjects, that were greatly admired & widely exhibited in Philadelphia, Boston, & Baltimore.

James Peale (1749-1831). Mary Polly Lawton Bringhurst 1790

The total number of Peale's landscape paintings remains unknown; but he executed more than 200 watercolor miniatures on ivory, perhaps 100 still-life paintings, probably fewer than 70 oil portraits, & at least 8 history paintings.

James Peale (1749-1831). Margarette Peale 1793
James Peale died in Philadelphia on May 24, 1831.

James Peale (1749-1831). Unidentified Girl with Bird 1770-75

James Peale (1749-1831). Ann Emily Rush

James Peale (1749-1831). Girl with a Doll

James Peale (1749-1831). Unidentified Woman 1802

James Peale (1749-1831). Olivia Simes Morris

James Peale (1749-1831). Elizabeth Oliphant 1795

James Peale (1749-1831). Jane Ramsay Peale

James Peale (1749-1831). Marcia Burns (Mrs. John Van Ness) 1797

James Peale (1749-1831). Anna and Margaretta Peale 1793

James Peale (1749-1831). Madame Dubocq and her Children 1807

James Peale (1749-1831). Susanne Correy 1790

James Peale (1749-1831). Mrs Samuel Simes and Edgar

James Peale (1749-1831). Mrs. John McCluney 1795

James Peale (1749-1831) View of the Wissahickon 1830

Click here for James Peale's still lifes of fruits & vegetables..

About this blog

In colonial America, men were considered superior to woman in all ways. In a strict patriarchal hierarchy, men controlled not only wealth & political power but also how their children were raised, religious questions, & all matters of right & wrong.

In the early part of the 19Cy, however, many Americans experienced a revolution in gender. The doctrine of “separate spheres” maintained that woman’s sphere was the world of privacy, family, & morality while man’s sphere was the public world -– economic striving, political maneuvering, & social competition. But women were interested in equality.

In 1848, New York passed the Married Woman’s Property Act. Now a woman wasn’t automatically liable for her husband’s debts; she could enter contracts on her own; she could collect rents or receive an inheritance in her own right; she could file a lawsuit on her own behalf. She became for economic purposes, an individual. By 1900, every state has passed legislation modeled after this, granting married women some control over their property and earnings.

In 1870 after the Civi War, the 15th Amendment was ratified, saying, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” African-Americans could vote, but women could not.

But it was not until 1920, that the 19th Amendment was ratified granting women the right to vote. “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”