William Smith and His Grandson (Primary Title)
Charles Willson Peale, American, 1741 - 1827 (Artist)
This portrait of the Baltimore merchant and statesman William Smith is part political propaganda. The father-in-law of Revolutionary War general Otho Holland Williams, Smith is pictured at his country estate, Eutaw, named for the Battle of Eutaw Springs where Williams defeated the British. The classical facade at right is imaginary, affiliating the sitter with republican ideals supportive of his congressional bid. The books along with a pruning hook and peach branch suggest the intellectual independence and economic self-sufficiency advocated by Thomas Jefferson for republican leadership. The inclusion of Smith’s grandson, Robert Smith Williams, implies that such virtuous principles will be part of Smith’s legacy.
The Maryland-born Peale was the first American artist to train with Benjamin West in London. West’s influence is apparent in Peale’s neoclassical style, which featured simple compositions, precise drawing, and direct lighting.
Signed and dated, lower right: "C. W. Peale / paint'd / 1788"
Robert G. Cabell III and Maude Morgan Cabell Foundation and the Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund
The Peale Family: Creation of a Legacy, 1770-1870, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Penn., October 26, 1996 – January 5, 1997; Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, February – March 1997; Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C., April 25 – July 6, 1997
The First Federal Congress, 1789-1791, The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., March 2 – July 23, 1989
American Masterpieces from American Museums, The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC, October 15, 1985 – January 15, 1986
Painting in the South, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Va., September 14 – November 27, 1983; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham Alabama, January 1 – March 4, 1984; National Academy of Design, New York, NY, April 1 – May 27, 1984; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS, June 24 – August 26, 1984; J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY, September 16 – November 11, 1984; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA, December 9, 1984 – February 3, 1985
Charles Wilson Peale and His World, The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., September 20, 1982 – February 28, 1983
Five Years of Collecting, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Va., March 25 – May 4, 1980
Maryland Heritage, Bicentennial Exhibition, The Peale Museum, Baltimore, MD, April 20 – June 20, 1976
250 Years of Painting in Maryland, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1945.
The First Federal Congress, 1789-1791, The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., March 2 – July 23, 1989
American Masterpieces from American Museums, The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC, October 15, 1985 – January 15, 1986
Painting in the South, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Va., September 14 – November 27, 1983; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham Alabama, January 1 – March 4, 1984; National Academy of Design, New York, NY, April 1 – May 27, 1984; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS, June 24 – August 26, 1984; J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY, September 16 – November 11, 1984; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA, December 9, 1984 – February 3, 1985
Charles Wilson Peale and His World, The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., September 20, 1982 – February 28, 1983
Five Years of Collecting, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Va., March 25 – May 4, 1980
Maryland Heritage, Bicentennial Exhibition, The Peale Museum, Baltimore, MD, April 20 – June 20, 1976
250 Years of Painting in Maryland, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1945.
Vester, Katharina. A Taste of Power: Food and American Identities. California: University of California Press, 2015. fig 1, p. 35
O’Leary, Elizabeth L., Sylvia Yount, Susan Jensen Rawles, and David Park Curry. American Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Charlottesville: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts with the University of Virginia Press, 2010. (No. 20, p. 58-60).
Keene, Jennifer D. et. al. Visions of America A History of the United States. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2010. (Fig. 5.6, p. 136).
Dyrness, William A. Reformed Theology and Visual Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. (Fig. 43, p. xi, 296-298).
Bjelajac, David. American Art: A Cultural History, 2nd ed. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2004. (No. 4.42, p. 143).
Manca, Joseph. "Cicero in America: Civic Duty and Private Happiness in Charles Willson Peal's Portrait of William Paca." American Art 17, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 80-81 (Fig. 10).
Vlach, John Michael. The Planter's Prospect: Privilege & Slavery in Plantation Paintings. Chapel Hill, NC and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002. (Fig. I.I, p. 6).
Miller, Lillian B., ed. and Sidney Hart, ed. The Selected Papers of Charles Willson Peale and His Family, Volume 5, The Autobiography of Charles Willson Peale. New Haven and London: Yale University Press with The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2000. (No. 23, pp. 151, 153, 371).
Bjelajac, David. American Art: A Cultural History. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2000. (No. 4.40, p. 147; p. 145).
“‘An Elegant Sufficiency’: Gentlemen’s Pursuits 1700-1825.” Mason Neck, Va.: Gunston Hall Plantation, 1999. Brochure for Gunston Hall Plantation’s Annual Decorative Arts Seminar, November 18, 1999. (cover illus.).
Norton, Mary Beth, et. al. A People and a Nation: A History of the United States, 5th ed. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998. (p. 170-171).
Barriault, Anne. Selections Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Richmond, Va.: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1997. (p. 80).
Miller, Lillian B. editor. The Peale Family Creation of a Legacy 1770-1870. New York: Abbeville Press with The Trust for Museum Exhibitions and The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1996. Exhibition catalog. (Plate 22, p. 49; p. 48-49, 77).
Weeks, Christopher. An Architectural History of Harford County, Maryland. Baltimore & London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. (p. 207-208).
Lankevich, George. Roots of the Republic: The First House of Representatives and the Bill of Rights, Vol. 4. Danbury, CT: Grolier Educational, 1996. (p. 47).
Norton, Mary Beth, et. al. A People and a Nation: A History of the United States, 4th ed. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1994. (Plate 6, p. 178).
Hutchins, Catherine E. Everyday Life in the Early Republic. Winterthur, Del: H.F. du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1994. (Fig. 4, p. 332).
Painting in the South: 1564-1980. Southern Living (September 1993): 168-173.
Fortune, Brandon Brame. "'From the World Escaped': Peale's Portrait ofWilliam Smith and His Grandson." Eighteenth-Century Studies 25, no. 4, Special Issue: Art History: New Voices/New Visions (Summer, 1992): 587-615 (Fig. 1).
At Home: American Art in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1700-1950. Richmond, Va: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1991. Exhibition brochure. (No. 4, n.p.).
Mathes, Charles. Treasures of American Museums. New York: Mallard Press, 1991. (Fig. 7, p.87).
Rasmussen, William M.S. “American Art to 1900.” The Magazine Antiques 138, no. 2 (August 1990): 281, Plate 7).
Christman, Margaret C. S. The First Federal Congress, 1789-1791. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Portrait Gallery and the United States Congress, 1989. Exhibition catalog. (p. 328-329).
Poesch, Jessie J. "A British Officer and His New York Cottage: An American Vernacular Brought to England." The American Art Journal 20, no. 4 (1988): 89.
Cikovsky, Nicolai, Linda Bantel, and John Wilmerding. Raphaelle Peale Still Lifes. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1988. (p. 38).
Marcus, Maeva, and James R. Perry. The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800. Volume IV: Organizing the Federal Judiciary: Legislation and Commentaries. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985. (p. 377).
Failing, Patricia. Best-Loved Art from American Museums. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1983. (p. 86-87).
Poesch, Jessie J. The Art of the Old South: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture & the Products of Craftsmen, 1560-1860. New York: Knopf, 1983.
Painting in the South. Richmond, Va.: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1983. Exhibition catalog. (No. 30, p. 190; Fig. 3, p. 191).
Adair, William. The Frame in American 1700-1900. Washington, D.C.: American Institute of Architects, 1983. (No. 100, p. 46).
Richardson, Edgar P., Brooke Hindle, and Lillian B. Miller. Charles Willson Peale and His World. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1982. (No. 156, p. 212-213, 261).
Pictures on Exhibit, Collector's Guide to World-Wide Art Shows (May-June 1980): 46.
Cooper, Wendy A. In Praise of America: American Decorative Arts, 1650-1830. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1980. (Plate 158, p. 140-141).
Mooz, R. Peter and Carolyn J. Weekely. "American Furniture at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts." The Magazine Antiques 113, no. 5 (May 1978): 1052.
Rhinehart, Raymond P. "For the Next Century." The Home Forum, Christian Science Monitor, September 8, 1976 (24).
Sellers, Charles Coleman. "Monumentality with Love: Charles Wilson Peale's Portrait of William Smith and his Grandson." Arts in Virginia 16, no. 2&3 (Winter/Spring 1976): 14-21.
Maryland Heritage - Bicentennial Exhibition. Baltimore, MD: The Peale Museum, 1976. Exhibition catalog. (No. 18).
"Museum Accessions." The Magazine Antiques 110, no. 12 (December 1975): 1110.
The Art Journal 35, no. 1 (Fall 1975): 58.
Flexner, James Thomas. America's Old Master's. Dover, NY, 1967. (p. 209).
Sellers, Charles Coleman. Portraits and Miniatures by Charles Wilson Peale. 1952. (No. 810, p. 197, 316).
O’Leary, Elizabeth L., Sylvia Yount, Susan Jensen Rawles, and David Park Curry. American Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Charlottesville: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts with the University of Virginia Press, 2010. (No. 20, p. 58-60).
Keene, Jennifer D. et. al. Visions of America A History of the United States. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2010. (Fig. 5.6, p. 136).
Dyrness, William A. Reformed Theology and Visual Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. (Fig. 43, p. xi, 296-298).
Bjelajac, David. American Art: A Cultural History, 2nd ed. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2004. (No. 4.42, p. 143).
Manca, Joseph. "Cicero in America: Civic Duty and Private Happiness in Charles Willson Peal's Portrait of William Paca." American Art 17, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 80-81 (Fig. 10).
Vlach, John Michael. The Planter's Prospect: Privilege & Slavery in Plantation Paintings. Chapel Hill, NC and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002. (Fig. I.I, p. 6).
Miller, Lillian B., ed. and Sidney Hart, ed. The Selected Papers of Charles Willson Peale and His Family, Volume 5, The Autobiography of Charles Willson Peale. New Haven and London: Yale University Press with The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2000. (No. 23, pp. 151, 153, 371).
Bjelajac, David. American Art: A Cultural History. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2000. (No. 4.40, p. 147; p. 145).
“‘An Elegant Sufficiency’: Gentlemen’s Pursuits 1700-1825.” Mason Neck, Va.: Gunston Hall Plantation, 1999. Brochure for Gunston Hall Plantation’s Annual Decorative Arts Seminar, November 18, 1999. (cover illus.).
Norton, Mary Beth, et. al. A People and a Nation: A History of the United States, 5th ed. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998. (p. 170-171).
Barriault, Anne. Selections Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Richmond, Va.: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1997. (p. 80).
Miller, Lillian B. editor. The Peale Family Creation of a Legacy 1770-1870. New York: Abbeville Press with The Trust for Museum Exhibitions and The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1996. Exhibition catalog. (Plate 22, p. 49; p. 48-49, 77).
Weeks, Christopher. An Architectural History of Harford County, Maryland. Baltimore & London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. (p. 207-208).
Lankevich, George. Roots of the Republic: The First House of Representatives and the Bill of Rights, Vol. 4. Danbury, CT: Grolier Educational, 1996. (p. 47).
Norton, Mary Beth, et. al. A People and a Nation: A History of the United States, 4th ed. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1994. (Plate 6, p. 178).
Hutchins, Catherine E. Everyday Life in the Early Republic. Winterthur, Del: H.F. du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1994. (Fig. 4, p. 332).
Painting in the South: 1564-1980. Southern Living (September 1993): 168-173.
Fortune, Brandon Brame. "'From the World Escaped': Peale's Portrait ofWilliam Smith and His Grandson." Eighteenth-Century Studies 25, no. 4, Special Issue: Art History: New Voices/New Visions (Summer, 1992): 587-615 (Fig. 1).
At Home: American Art in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1700-1950. Richmond, Va: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1991. Exhibition brochure. (No. 4, n.p.).
Mathes, Charles. Treasures of American Museums. New York: Mallard Press, 1991. (Fig. 7, p.87).
Rasmussen, William M.S. “American Art to 1900.” The Magazine Antiques 138, no. 2 (August 1990): 281, Plate 7).
Christman, Margaret C. S. The First Federal Congress, 1789-1791. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Portrait Gallery and the United States Congress, 1989. Exhibition catalog. (p. 328-329).
Poesch, Jessie J. "A British Officer and His New York Cottage: An American Vernacular Brought to England." The American Art Journal 20, no. 4 (1988): 89.
Cikovsky, Nicolai, Linda Bantel, and John Wilmerding. Raphaelle Peale Still Lifes. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1988. (p. 38).
Marcus, Maeva, and James R. Perry. The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800. Volume IV: Organizing the Federal Judiciary: Legislation and Commentaries. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985. (p. 377).
Failing, Patricia. Best-Loved Art from American Museums. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1983. (p. 86-87).
Poesch, Jessie J. The Art of the Old South: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture & the Products of Craftsmen, 1560-1860. New York: Knopf, 1983.
Painting in the South. Richmond, Va.: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1983. Exhibition catalog. (No. 30, p. 190; Fig. 3, p. 191).
Adair, William. The Frame in American 1700-1900. Washington, D.C.: American Institute of Architects, 1983. (No. 100, p. 46).
Richardson, Edgar P., Brooke Hindle, and Lillian B. Miller. Charles Willson Peale and His World. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1982. (No. 156, p. 212-213, 261).
Pictures on Exhibit, Collector's Guide to World-Wide Art Shows (May-June 1980): 46.
Cooper, Wendy A. In Praise of America: American Decorative Arts, 1650-1830. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1980. (Plate 158, p. 140-141).
Mooz, R. Peter and Carolyn J. Weekely. "American Furniture at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts." The Magazine Antiques 113, no. 5 (May 1978): 1052.
Rhinehart, Raymond P. "For the Next Century." The Home Forum, Christian Science Monitor, September 8, 1976 (24).
Sellers, Charles Coleman. "Monumentality with Love: Charles Wilson Peale's Portrait of William Smith and his Grandson." Arts in Virginia 16, no. 2&3 (Winter/Spring 1976): 14-21.
Maryland Heritage - Bicentennial Exhibition. Baltimore, MD: The Peale Museum, 1976. Exhibition catalog. (No. 18).
"Museum Accessions." The Magazine Antiques 110, no. 12 (December 1975): 1110.
The Art Journal 35, no. 1 (Fall 1975): 58.
Flexner, James Thomas. America's Old Master's. Dover, NY, 1967. (p. 209).
Sellers, Charles Coleman. Portraits and Miniatures by Charles Wilson Peale. 1952. (No. 810, p. 197, 316).
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