Charles Peale and His Posse Paint George Washington

One of the most fun-loving Philadelphians of the 18th century was artist Charles Willison Peale, who outlived three wives, fathered 17 kids, and in his spare time, founded a museum, a zoo, ran a farm and mastered taxidermy. He not only named his kids after artists of the past but taught them (and his brother, James) how to draw and paint.

Peale had already painted George Washington’s portrait six times, but when Philly was the capital city, many artists, including Peale, his sons, and Gilbert Stuart, all wanted to create portraits of the president.

And so it came to pass in 1795 that Gilbert Stuart - whose portrait of Washington is on the one-dollar bill – uttered a little quip that is still clever:

Stuart looked into a room where Washington was sitting for a portrait by Peale, three of his sons, Rembrandt, Raphaelle, Titian and brother, James Peale.

“My God,” said Stuart, “the President was being ‘PEELED’ all around".