James Peale (1749—1831)

by 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.

by 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.

by James Peale (1749—1831)

Oil on canvas; 36 x 27 in. (91.4 x 68.6 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.

by James Peale (1749—1831)

Oil on canvas; 61.5 x 89.5 cm. (24 3/16 x 35 1/4 in.) Princeton University Museum of Art, Princeton, NJ.

by James Peale (1749—1831)

Oil on canvas; 20 1/2 x 29 7/16in. (52.1 x 74.8cm). Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Colonial Williamsburg, VA.

by James Peale (1749—1831)

Oil on canvas; 20 3/8 x 29 5/8in. (51.8 x 75.2cm). Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Colonial Williamsburg, VA.

by James Peale (1749—1831)

Oil on canvas. After Charles Willson Peale.

by James Peale (1749—1831)

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.

by James Peale (1749—1831)

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.

by James Peale (1749—1831)

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.

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.

Gordon S. Wood
Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 (2009)