Raphaelle Peale

Raphaelle Peale (sometimes spelled Raphael Peale; February 17, 1774 – March 4, 1825) is considered the first professional American painter of still-life.

Biography Peale was born in Annapolis, Maryland, the fifth child, though eldest surviving, of the painter Charles Willson Peale and his first wife Rachel Brewer. He grew up in Philadelphia, and spent his life there in a home at the corner of 3rd and Lombard. Like his siblings (almost all of whom were named after famous artists or scientists), Raphaelle was trained by his father as an artist. Early in his career, the pair collaborated on portraits. On some commissions, Raphaelle painted miniatures while his brother, Rembrandt, painted full-size portraits.

In 1793, he made a trip to South America in order to collect specimens for the Peale Museum founded by his father. His first professional exhibition was in 1795 at the age of 21. In 1797, with his brother Rembrandt, he traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, where they attempted to establish another museum. The plan fell through, however, and Raphaelle returned to painting miniatures.

He married Martha (Patty) McGlathery at the age of twenty, and with her had eight children. For about two years beginning in 1803, Peale toured Virginia with the "physiognotrace", a profile making machine, with which he was briefly successful. By 1806 he had begun to suffer the symptoms of arsenic and mercury poisoning brought on by his work as a taxidermist in his father's museum. His style may have been influenced by Spanish still life paintings he saw on his trip to Mexico and by the two works by Juan Sanchez Cotan, exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1816. Most of Peale's paintings are small in scale, and depict a few objects—usually foodstuffs—arranged on a tabletop before a darkened background.

A notable exception to this is his trompe-l'œil, Venus Rising from the Sea—A Deception (also entitled After the Bath, 1822, in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art). This painting serves as a distinct thematic departure from his other work. While the dark backdrop is consistent with his still life works, there were themes of this work that make it unique amongst Peale's other works. Instead of featuring food, the subject is Venus, who is just barely visible from behind the napkin covering her. This theme of covering is consistent with a previous work of his, Peaches Covered by a Handkerchief. By covering the subject, Peale introduced a theme of mystery to his painting which has survived to this day. The act of covering a nude figure was not new to the world of art, however Peale took this choice literally when painting the cover into the painting itself. The mystery of this work is compounded by the lack of clear date on the painting itself due to a smudged last digit.

Notable works

Blackberries, c. 1813 Melons and Morning Glories, 1813 A Dessert (Still Life with Lemons and Oranges), 1814 Still Life with Orange and Book, 1815 Fruit, Pitcher, and Pretzel, unknown Bowl of Peaches, 1816 Still Life with Fruit, Cakes and Wine, 1821 Still Life with Peaches, 1822 Lemons and Sugar, unknown