The self taught, revered scientists, extensive naturalist and all around jack of all trades Charles Willson Peale was thought of like a true Renaissance man. All of his artistic talent and knowledge he passed on to his many sons. Being friends with George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, Peale promoted artistic development and public art. In his artwork, he captured the realness and vivacity of life. The similarities between Peale and his American contemporaries can be seen when they are compared to him. The well known Neo-classicist artist, Charles Peale through all of his trades was a masterful craftsman and artist.
Fully skilled in many fields Charles Peale was known as an American Leonardo. Living from 1741-1827
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Painted from 1770-1773 The Peale Family consisted of nine of the Peale family members and their “faithful nurse” (Strickland 72). Willson himself is in the back left holding a palette and painting on an easel that says “Concordia Animae,” which means, harmony of souls. The unique composition of The Peale Family shows “the essential unity of the group” (Strickland 72). Connected by the hand and shoulder contact, the people in this painting seem to overlap, showing the concept of E Pluribus Unum. Popular in the 1800’s to the early 1900’s the style of conversation was used in this painting (Strickland 72). The clearness, crispness and realism represented in The Peale Family, demonstrated the classical nature of Peale’s work. Although some of his other works contain a more heroic and classical theme, they still convey the same styles. Being the first to paint a portrait of George Washington, and also painting portraits of 40 different officers from Valley Forge, Peale was known to have painted very “outstanding American leaders” (Encyclopedia of World Biography). As he painted in his classical style, Willson Peale established a name for himself that would be remembered for centuries.
The American contemporaries of Peale and the things they achieved were in some ways similar and rivaled to his own. One of Peale’s friends and the president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson was an architect who built the University of
Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington is called the “Lansdowne” painted in the 1800, it is located in the American Wing; room Anthony W. and Lulu C. Wang Galleries of Eighteen–century American Art. It is an oil canvas painting displayed upright against the wall near the corridor, dimension are 48 x 37 in. This painting was lent to the museum by Mr. and Mrs. Michael Stienhardt in 2008. Alongside the George Washington portrait there are other portraits by Gilbert Stuart’s, such as “Matilda Stoughton de Jaudenes” and “Jaudenes y Nebot.” From a curator’s point of view, I felt like the artwork around the “George Washington” portrait was ideal because they all represented people in politics. The painting “Matilda Stoughton de Jaudenes”
The left side of the painting includes American icons such as Steve Irwin, Prince, Abraham Lincoln, and the “army” being led by George Washington. This could symbolize the American lifestyle that focuses and is represented mainly by society's take on who is important to the culture. This is often popular or influential celebrities, iconic presidents and/or leaders such as Abraham
Between the 1300s and 1500s, Europe experienced a period of cultural rebirth known as the Renaissance, marking the transition from medieval times to modern times. The Renaissance brought new importance to individual expression, self-consciousness and worldly experience.
Cany Peale’s painting shows an Anglo-Saxon woman engaging with an African American woman, at first glance, one could assume this is a genre painting, that of a peaceful scene demonstrating people in everyday activities (“Genre Painting”). Two women intimately engaging “in a grooming ritual” (Byrd) however this thought is fractured as you see the controlling way the Anglo-Saxon woman holds the bottom of the African American woman's face as she gazes upon herself in the mirror. A spectacle of power and control that is further illustrated as the Anglo-Saxon woman stands slightly taller than the African American, demonstrating the hierarchy and to establishing their identities as Mistress and slave.
The painting depicts one of the most decisive victories of the American Revolution. Prior to the battle American morale was very low, even Washington was becoming doubtful. The continental army was forced out of New York and pushed across most of New Jersey on a desperate retreat induced by many British victories. The British troops that occupied the small town of Trenton were convinced that American morale was much too broken for any sort of attack… Washington had other plans. (Encyclopedia Brittanica)
James Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, George Inness (America’s leading landscapist), Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer were all great American artists.
Emmanuel Leutze’s painting Washington Crossing the Delaware shares some similarities with David Shulman’s poem “Washington Crossing the Delaware”; however, the dissimilarities are more abundant. These works of art and literature portray the scene of that remembered Christmas day when Washington and his army set out to conquer to Hessian people. Although they have similarities, there are some differences in these works that are nothing less than noticeable. Join me in observing the similarities and dissimilarities in these pieces.
First and foremost, the American Educational System has received numerous advocates offering crucial inputs on education from centuries ago up to the present time. Even so, with focus, shining on past advocates, three well-known men who are still receiving constant acknowledgment for their ideas and contributions regarding the system. Notably, Dewey, Man, and Jefferson all share major impacts, alike and unlike, resulting in significant effects on the American Educational System.
The dearly departed Thomas Jefferson has been portrayed as a colossal influence throughout the American revolutionary era, but to say just that is a colossal understatement. In his youth, the American hero gradually rose to politics, gaining reputation with quite the jack-of-all-trades knack including linguistics, architecture, and philosophy (“Thomas Jefferson” 1). While tensions between the colonists and British soldiers of the American colonies were slowly building up to the American Revolution of 1776, Jefferson became a lawyer in Virginia in 1767; mastering his craft of law until being admitted to the House of Burgesses in 1769 and later to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia of 1775 (“Thomas Jefferson” 1).
Joseph Ellis sets out to make George Washington, the person we think of as an icon, into a real person. He wants to show us what makes him tick. He wants to turn the marble into the man. So many students today see George Washington as a memorial, a monument, a face on a dollar bill, and the man who could not lie when he cut down the cherry tree. He wants to show us the man George Washington was in his day. Ellis’s method was to divide George Washington’s life into three main parts:
Leutze’s painting, Washington Crossing the Delaware, conveys that the people of America can overlook their differences and hardship when being unified by hope. He uses pathos in the color contrast in his painting to inspire feelings of hope in the unity of America. Dark color seems to loom, almost pushing upon the ships in the painting. Nevertheless, light surrounds the ships, seeming to flow from the American flag on the first ship. The American flag is a symbol of hope for the men on these ships, each of them being drastically different. The men gathered on these ships are all drastically different . George Washington himself is there, a highly respected general among common folk and even an African American man. Each of these men different in race, rank, and opinion are unified under a flag that represents each different person as a single people for the hope that they can earn their freedom. Despite the pressing darkness the flag shines a light of hope as a symbol of unity for the people of America. The pathos used in
Although Charles Peale was an artist, he accomplished much more. Because of his many interests and occupations, which included saddle maker, scientist, and inventor, Peale was known as “the Leonardo of the New World”. Some of his accomplishments included creating porcelain false teeth, starting the first american art gallery, and established a natural history museum that included the second fossil put together in the world. Clearly, Peale had a broad range of interests which
Leonardo Da Vinci was a successful man in more areas than artwork. From the time he was a boy, he began studying the arts as well as the ideas of science, medicine, machinery, and much more. Da Vinci’s history is reflected in his paintings and inventions that have been able to change the world of then and now. Leonardo’s artistic vision led him down a prosperous path of life that has made him one of the most innovative individuals the world has seen. With the help of a lot of childhood exposure to the arts, along with the natural creativity born inside of him, Leonardo Da Vinci changed the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries through his work.
Many artist believed George Washington had the look of power and control, so they would paint, sketch or sculpt images of him to create that “powerful” setting. For example, Emanuel Leutze in 1851,
Leonardo is a well known mathematician, due to his invention in the math community; Such as the Fibonacci sequence and the Fibonacci Spiral. Leonardo’s country of origin is Italy, where he grew up. Fibonacci made tons of mathematical inventions to improve the world and I’m going to tell you all about Fibonacci.