The Amazing Peale Family “It has been said , and generally is an adopted opinion that genius for the fine arts, is a particular gift and not am acquirement. That Poets, Painters &c are born such.”
— Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827)
Rembrandt Peale, a founder of the Gas Light Company of Baltimore, had quite a pedigree. From humble beginnings as a saddler in Maryland, his father, Charles Willson, became a driving force in the creation of American art and science. It was said that he was “interested in everything,” As a renowned portrait artist and George Washington’s favorite painter over many decades, the endlessly curious Mr. Peale also jumped into natural history with taxidermy, horticulture, paleontology, and museum exhibitions. He was a great natural talent and showman, passing on his abilities to two more generations. The Peale clan literally chronicled the shakers and movers of early America. Unfortunately, business acumen was never a strong point for the family. They struggled to make a living at their appointed tasks. Museums with portraits of heroes, stuffed animals, and mastodon skeletons were still a new concept in America. When he introduced gaslight to his Philadelphia museum, Charles Willson wrote an enthusiastic letter to his daughter Angelica claiming that his museum would now “be the admiration of the world.” He also predicted that Rembrandt would “make himself perfectly master of all the best modes of producing these [gas] lights and very probably will do essential service to the publick of Baltimore.” Rembrandt did do essential service by creating what became the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company. He was, however, vain, self indulgent, and long on ideas but short on follow through. With mounting debts and disagreements, he sold the museum to brother Rubens in 1822 and fled to Italy. Upon his return, he was filled with complaints, writing to a friend, “It is not to the credit of Baltimore that the literal views and purposes of science should be sacrificed to the sordid calculations of shortsighted commercial avarice.”
Charles Willson Peale sought more light to show off his innovative Philadelphia Museum. (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Gift of Mrs. Sarah Harrison [The Joseph
Harrison, Jr. Collection]) Peale’s letter to his daughter Angelica
described the new system of gaslight. (Courtesy American
Philosophical Society)
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