Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) self-portrait, c. 1782–85
American painter, naturalist, inventor and soldier, forefather of museology in the United States and the progenitor of a large family of artists. His output is estimated at about 1,100 paintings – portraits, genre scenes and landscapes. In 1782, Peale founded the first art gallery in the United States, in which he presented his own paintings and works of his numerous descendants.
Peale’s masonic membership is not known. What is known is that in several meeting minutes for Williamsburgh Lodge in Virginia, Peale is listed as Brother Peale wanting to and having borrowed a portrait from the lodge for copying which implies his presence at the meeting. (the source: masonrytoday.com)
Rachel, his first wife, weeping over their daughter Margeret, who died of smallpox (1772–1776)
