Special exhibition that is on view from April 5th until August 15th.
Hours 12 – 5pm, Closed on Tuesdays
The Hammond-Harwood House presents In the Shadow of a Legacy: The Peale Women Painters
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1831) is considered one of early America’s foremost artists. He was the patriarch of a large family that included sons Rembrandt, Rubens, and Raphaelle as well his brother James—the First Family of American Painting. However, the Peale men have typically been the focus of attention. Many of the daughters, nieces, and wives were professional painters, but rarely receive the attention they deserve. This exhibition of 22 works from public and private collections represent seven of the Peale women who created portraits, still lifes, and miniatures that demonstrate their artistry, technical skill, and rightful place in American art history.
This exhibition has been made possible through the generosity of
Maryland Center for History and Culture
Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library
Private Collectors and Lenders
Catherine Arthur
Stiles T. Colwill
Brian Garner
Judy Homorsky
Kedra Kearis
Jacqueline Oefinger
The Colonial Players. Inc.
Arts Council of Anne Arundel County
Maryland State Arts Council
Past – Please join us for the online lecture by Kedra Kearis, PhD, in celebration of the exhibition opening.
Online Lecture: Thursday, April 10 at 7:00 pm
Art in the Family: Three Generations of Peale Painters
By Kedra Kearis, PhD, Associate Curator of art and visual culture at Winterthur Museum and a faculty member in the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture at the University of Delaware.
Explore the multi-generational Peale family whose art production spanned more than a century, from the colonial period through the Victorian era. Charles Willson Peale changed the course of American art through his artistic practice, his museum business, and the mentorship of his brother James, as well as his sons and daughters in the arts.
Discover the remarkable lives of the Peale women–Sarah Miriam, Margaretta Angelica, Anna Claypoole, Mary Jane Peale and others. Working within the Peale art legacy, these women drew upon artistic traditions of the past and contemporary trends across the Atlantic, through their individual art forms of portraiture, still life, and landscape painting.
Bio: Kedra Kearis, is the associate curator of art and visual culture at Winterthur Museum and is a faculty member in the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture at the University of Delaware. Kedra holds a PhD in Art History, an MA in Literature, and a BA in French Language and Literature. Her work examines the intersections of performance, identity, and modernization in the material culture of the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. She has curated “The Peale Painters: Global Perspectives in the Winterthur Collection” now on view at Winterthur Museum.