Portrait of a Gentleman, oil on canvas, signed middle left and dated 185(?), 34" x 27" (image), 43" x 36" (with frame)

Peale returned to Philadelphia in 1810, soon thereafter opening the Apollodorian Gallery, which he moved to Baltimore in 1814. The Gallery was inspired by the need at the time to educate the American public in the fine arts, but it failed largely due to Peale’s poor management and the ravages of the War of 1812 along the eastern seaboard. In 1822, the artist took up again a portrait of George Washington which he had initially painted from life at age 17. The result was one of the iconic portraits of Washington known as the “Porthole Portrait.” The work was purchased by Congress in 1832 and hangs today in the national Capitol. The success of the piece led Peale to paint nearly eighty versions of the portrait in his lifetime.

A polymath like his father, Rembrandt pursued a variety of careers and intellectual interests. In his youth, he studied the chemistry of paint at the medical college of the University of Pennsylvania, developing his own color system. With his brother and father, he participated in amateur archaeology. He also experimented with lithography and graphic design, and he wrote poetry. Throughout his life, he produced portraits of many famous Americans, among them Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and John C. Calhoun. In 1830, he settled permanently in Philadelphia, where, in addition to painting, he pursued careers as a teacher and a writer. He died in Philadelphia in October, 1860.

Rembrandt Peale’s work can be found in most major American museums, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Butler Institute of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Philadelphia Museum. In 1992/93, the National Portrait Gallery mounted In Pursuit of Fame: Rembrandt Peale, 1778-1860, an exhibit which included 75 of the artist’s portraits.