Name/Title
Portrait of a ManEntry/Object ID
1986.0002.0114Description
James Peale studied painting with his older brother, Charles Willson Peale, whose work hangs nearby, after the elder Peale returned from study with Benjamin West at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He painted over 200 miniature portraits between the start of his career in 1780 and 1810, when his sight began to fail. Made for prominent Philadelphians, miniatures were portable reminders of loved ones that could be worn on the body as necklaces or brooches, or carried in a pocket.
Over the course of your lifetime, have you carried images of those you love with you? In your wallet? On your phone? In a locket around your neck? How do portraits of loved ones kept on our bodies help us feel grounded in, or connected to, our communities of choice?Made/Created
Date made
circa 1790 - circa 1810Dimensions
Dimension Description
SizeHeight
2 inWidth
3 in