Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) was born in St. Paul's Parish, Queen Annes County, Maryland. He turned to portrait painting when circumstances forced him to abandon his early trade of saddler, and studied under John Hesselius in America and Benjamin West in England. A militia officer in the Revolution, his miniature portraits of his fellow officers became the nucleus of the Philadelphia Museum collection, and he was later instrumental in the establishment of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His contemporary standing portrait of General George Washington hangs in the Senate wing of the renowned building that houses the United States Congress in Washington, D.C., and is reproduced from the United States Capitol Collection.
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Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) was born in St. Paul's Parish, Queen Annes County, Maryland. He turned to portrait painting when circumstances forced him to abandon his early trade of saddler, and studied under John Hesselius in America and Benjamin Wes