Portraits by Rembrandt Peale

Rembrandt Peale’s work is represented in Hagley’s collection through six portrait paintings (Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, Margaretta Lammot du Pont, Sophie du Pont, Evelina du Pont, George Washington, and Martha Washington) and two attributed sketches (E. I. du Pont and Victor Marie du Pont).

Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860) was an American portrait painter most well-known for his portraits of George Washington. He was born on February 22, 1778, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania to his mother, Rachel Brewer, and his father, Charles Willson Peale. Charles was a noted artist, and he taught his children to paint scenery and portraiture from a very early age. Rembrandt’s siblings were also named after revered artists of the past: Rubens, Titian, Ramsay, Raphaelle, Sophonisba, Angusciola, and Angelica Kauffman.

Rembrandt was thirteen years old when he completed his first work, a self-portrait. He would go on to produce more than one thousand works in his lifetime. Philadelphia was Rembrandt’s hometown, but he traveled up and down the east coast from Boston to Charleston. Rembrandt also spent extended periods abroad.

His father’s artistic renown made it possible for Rembrandt to paint the portraits of many important figures. In 1795, George Washington agreed to three sittings over three days for Rembrandt to paint his portrait. Rembrandt, at only seventeen years of age, painted a wonderfully accurate depiction of the then sixty-three-year-old George Washington.

In the following years, Rembrandt was determined to produce a more idealized portrait of the President; one that captured the heroic and confident qualities held in the minds of many Americans. In 1823, Rembrandt succeeded in his goal with a portrait of George Washington entitled Patriae Pater. He would eventually create close to eighty copies of that work.