The
Peale Family
The
Biggs Museum has several still lifes by members of the Peale family. The
most recent addition is the small Still Life With Peaches painted
by Mary Jane Peale (1827-1902). The painting is displayed in Gallery Five.
The newly acquired work is inscribed on the reverse “For E.S. Thompson;
painted by cousin Mary Peale 1892.” The only daughter of Rubens Peale (1784-1865),
Mary Jane Peale studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts at
least during 1855-1858, the time when her father began painting at his
farm near Pottsville, Schuylkill County, PA. She is known to have copied
works by her uncle Rembrandt and worked on several pictures with her father.
Her oeuvre includes some portraits and still life, an example of
which is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Her work is naturalistic
and in the family’s tradition of early 19th century still life. The subject
of the painting is peaches and other fruit in a simple bowl. The fruit
was probably grown on her parents’ farm.
This work joins three other still life pictures by members of the Peale family. Mary’s father Rubens’ Still Life With Silver Basket c.1856 is probably the earliest of these, but its style is similar to the Still Life with Chinese Export Porcelain Basket done by Washington Peale, grandson of James Peale (1749-1831), which Washington (1825-1868) copied after a work by Rubens’ brother Raphaelle. The small Still Life With Berries was done by Margaretta Angelica Peale, daughter of James and aunt of Washington. Confused by the relationships? Don’t worry. Since members of this large family of artists copied, taught, and learned from one another, it’s often hard to tell their work apart, much less to remember how each was related to the other.
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