ExclusiveHarriet Caney Peale: A Legacy in American Art

Welcome to American Legends. My name is Tiffany Brannon. Each culture has its legends, and that could be myths or different stories, but here in America, our greatest legends are the wonderful heroes who are right from our history pages. Now, some of these heroes are very famous and some are obscure, but each person deserves to be discovered because each man or woman stands as a great example of how we can be better Americans Art in America is really only defined by a few names, many of them from more recent years. Nevertheless, although we don't have as many really famous artists in terms of name recognition, that doesn't mean that the United States of America didn't have some excellent painters in our early days. In particular, one family really shaped the art scene in America around the time of the American Revolution and continued to do so throughout the 19th century. Today we're going to talk about a lady who became part of this family through marriage, Harriet Caney Peale. The Peale family could be considered the first family of art in America. It all began with Charles Wilson Peale, who was a hero in the Revolutionary War, but was a successful portrait painter even before the Revolution, rendering paintings of George Washington in the early 1770s. He continued painting throughout his life into the early 19th century, but beyond his own contributions to art through painting and founding museums, he provided a valuable art legacy by instilling a love of art in his 17 children. He named those children after various famous artists of the old world with names like Raphael, Titian, Rubens, and Rembrandt. Now Rembrandt went on to become probably the most famous of Charles Peale's children in terms of being an artist, although several of his siblings became successful artists as well. But Rembrandt followed in his father's footsteps in becoming a very successful portrait painter, painting many works depicting George Washington as well as more artistic classical subjects. Even beyond his own work though, Rembrandt followed in his father's footsteps of inspiring others. In addition to being a great painter himself, Rembrandt Peale was a very successful art teacher, working in different schools as well as having private students. By 1840, Rembrandt Peale was 62. He had been married for many years, but he was now a widower, and he had nine children with his first wife. His wife had been dead for several years, and on November 6th of 1840, he married a second wife, Harriet Caney. Harriet was one of his art students, and she herself was a widow. We don't know much about her first husband, even his name isn't something that's widely known, but we do know a few details about her. She was born in 1799 in Philadelphia. Her parents were Charles and Mary Caney. They had a fancy goods business, and she worked in the shop. Somewhere along the way, she did get married and then eventually was widowed. Her early art training isn't very well known, but we do know that she eventually studied with Rembrandt, who cultivated her skills and was very impressed by her talent. When they got married, she was 41, and she was born the same year as his oldest daughter. But it was common practice in those days for a widower to marry a younger woman to continue helping him raise his existing children, because some of his younger children were still younger, more in the age of needing a mother. But he did not have any children with Harriet, because they continued to have a very artistic relationship in that they were collaborators, and they inspired each other with their various artwork. Most early American artists who were women are defined by their relationship to men, because many of them who were successful were able to get some opportunities because of being married to, or being the daughters of, or the sisters of successful male artists. But that doesn't mean that these ladies shouldn't be regarded for their own talent and technique. And Harriet is certainly an example of an excellent painter, male or female, because her paintings show very precise brushwork, and she was well skilled in the art of both portraiture and landscapes. She had her first exhibit with the Artist's Fund Society in 1840, a few months before her marriage, and it was in that same year that Rembrandt painted the best known portrait of Harriet, which he called Portrait of a Lady. In it she's wearing a very stylish dark blue gown with a large white hat, and you can see her striking beauty, but also her noble intelligent appearance. Like many painters of the day, she worked as a copyist, meaning that she would make copies of her own artwork or other people's, and this might at first glance seem like it doesn't take much talent, but this is before they were using really any kind of printing press technique to reproduce paintings, even a little before lithography, or as it was just being developed. So one would have to be a good enough painter to accurately replicate another painting, whether of something one had done oneself or somebody else. And Harriet was quite successful as a copyist of her husband's works, because he had many very successful and in-demand paintings, such as most notably his Oval Portrait of George Washington. Many people wanted copies of this, so she would help him in reproducing these paintings. In 1848 she had her first exhibit at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, at which were displayed her peasant girl and fancy portrait. It was in that same year that she produced what is probably her best known painting, Her Mistress's Clothing. This painting shows an African woman, obviously a slave, with her white mistress, and in this painting the two women are looking in a mirror, and the enslaved woman is wearing finery, albeit slightly outdated, that clearly belongs to her mistress, as well as jewelry, and it looks rather pretentious on her, but the mistress is sort of making her look in the mirror. And there's a lot of meaning or messages which you could interpret from this painting, and many art scholars have analyzed it at great length. Is there some kind of a racial message in it? Is she showing that the servant woman is forced to be almost a plaything to her mistress, or is it a moment of sisterhood, as she's willingly sharing these nice things with her slave girl? Maybe she's almost like a sister to her, we don't really know. But it's interesting to see the different messages which she put into this painting, as well as the excellent details. As a successful landscape painter, Harriet has been considered a member of the Hudson River School. This is an American school of art which focused on landscape and began in the 1820s or so, and flourished in the mid-19th century. In addition to just showing the beautiful landscape, particularly of the New England area, the artists in this school idealized and treasured pristine, untouched nature, as opposed to industrialism and the big city. Usually only male artists have been considered as part of this school, but in more recent analysis, many feel that Harriet Caney Peale should be considered one of the foremost members of this art school, and her work has been featured in a recent exhibit that focused on women's contribution to the school, called Remember the Ladies. The work of hers, which was mainly featured in that exhibit, was a beautiful landscape that shows a river. It's called Catterskill Clove, and it was painted in 1858. The detail in this painting is really amazing, it's very impressive, and certainly equal to the work of any other American painter in that school. The rocks, the water crashing over them, the trees in the distance, it has a very peaceful feel with the use of muted greens and browns, yet it's also very, very vibrant. It almost is like a photograph that has perhaps had a few filters put on it, because it is beautiful but also very realistic. For many years, Harriet Caney Peale was mainly just regarded as the second wife of Rembrandt Peale, but I think that she deserves equal credit as being a great inspiration and collaborator to this excellent but somewhat temperamental artist during the last 20 years of his life. In a letter which she wrote in 1846, Harriet said, Indeed, it was a bit of a difference from the norm in that she continued her art after her marriage rather than having children now, as she was 40. She was perhaps a little on the older side to be having a whole new set of children with a new husband. So instead, they enjoyed a true artistic and spiritual bond as they encouraged each other with their art, and both painted excellent portraits in their later days. After Rembrandt Peale died in 1860, she continued her artistic work and contributing to various charities before eventually dying in 1869. When asked to name American artists, I think there are probably only a few names which would come to mind. Yet, looking a little deeper into American history, one realizes that we would have no clue how so many people who were very important in our revolution and early days look if it weren't for these great portraitists. Who were these people? Well, most of them were not only portrait painters, but excellent artists in their own right. And the Peale family, by extension of children, grandchildren, and spouses, was indeed part of that vibrant art legacy. Harriet Caney Peale deserves to be remembered as an important member of an artistic family and an excellent example of one of America's finest art schools, the Hudson River School. Look up her name and you'll find some of the beautiful works which she painted, showing both portraits of ladies and gentlemen and exquisite landscapes. Thank you for spending this time with me, and I hope you'll join me next time for more American Legends.