Oil on canvas; 29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 61 cm). New-York Historical Society, New York, NY.
This portrait of Dolley Madison was originally in the Peale Museum in Philadelphia and formerly attributed to Rembrandt Peale.
But with the British army evacuated [from Philadelphia in 1778] and the Patriots now in charge, Philadelphia Loyalists were doubly vulnerable to censure and punishment for siding with the Crown and for having consorted with the enemy. The Philadelphia Assembly Appointed [Charles Willson] Peale and four others to be Commissioners of Forfeited Estates, and for that the commissioners would receive a 5 percent commission. Peale’s group had extraordinary power to interrogate suspected traitors, break into houses, remove property, and sell off estates. Writs were issued to seize 118 estates ...