Charles Willson Peale, despite his devotion to the taxonomic and contemplative majesty of the natural world, nevertheless loved novelties and used all sorts of amusements to attract customers to his museum. He eventually resorted to hiring a popular musical performer who played five different instruments simultaneously, using all parts of his body. Following Peale’s death the museum passed into the enterprising hands of P. T. Barnum, becoming part of his traveling circus — a romantic ending for an Enlightenment institution.
James Peale (1749—1831)
Watercolor on ivory; 1 1/2 x 1 in. (3.8 x 2.5 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Watercolor on ivory; 1 1/2 x 1 in. (3.8 x 2.5 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Oil on canvas; 36 x 27 in. (91.4 x 68.6 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Oil on canvas; 61.5 x 89.5 cm. (24 3/16 x 35 1/4 in.) Princeton University Museum of Art, Princeton, NJ.
Oil on canvas; 20 1/2 x 29 7/16in. (52.1 x 74.8cm). Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Colonial Williamsburg, VA.
Oil on canvas; 20 3/8 x 29 5/8in. (51.8 x 75.2cm). Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Colonial Williamsburg, VA.
Oil on canvas; 55.9 x 47.6 x 2.5cm (22 x 18 3/4 x 1"). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
Watercolor on ivory; 1 3/4 x 1 1/4 in. (4.4 x 3.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Watercolor on ivory; 1 7/8 x 1 1/2 in. (4.8 x 3.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 (2009)