Charles Willson Peale - American artist

Charles Willson Peale (April 15, 1741 – February 22, 1827) was an American painter, fighter and natural scientist. Peale was born in Chester, Queen Anne’s County, Maryland the son of Charles Peale and his wife Margaret. In 1749 his brother James Peale (1749-1831) was born. Charles became an trainee to a saddle maker when he was thirteen years old. Upon reaching maturity, he opened his own saddle store; however, when his Loyalist creditors discovered he had joined the Sons of Liberty organization, they conspired to bankrupt his business.

Finding that he had a talent for painting, especially portraitures, Peale studied for a time under John Hesselius and John Singleton Copley; eventually friends raised enough money for him to travel to England to take instruction from Benjamin West.

He also had a huge interest in natural history, and organized the first U.S. scientific journey in 1801. These two major interests combined in his founding of what became the Philadelphia Museum, and was later renamed the Peale Museum. This museum was stocked with artwork supplied by Peale, as well as artifacts of natural history, such as a mastodon skeleton found on the first outing. After his death, the museum was sold to, and split up by, showmen P. T. Barnum and Moses Kimball.

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