Charles Willson Peale in Bladensburg, 1789
Many famous
individuals have traveled through Bladensburg, and the record of the 1789 visit
of painter Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) is one of the most interesting. Peale was the patriarch of a large and talented
family, who preserved for us a legacy of visual and written information about
America in the 18th and 19th centuries. Peale recorded
his experiences in writing nearly as voluminously as he recorded his subjects
in paint; his visit to Bladensburg is a good example.
Peale left Annapolis
on Friday, 14 August 1789, crossing the Patuxent River at Queen Anne, and
spending the night with Benjamin Hall at his Partnership plantation. On the following morning, Peale left Hall’s
“to go to George Town, and reached Bladensburg at mid day – I waited on Mrs.
Ross, who informd me that Mrs. Lounes (sic)
wanted her portrait in miniature to give one to each of her Children.” Ariana Brice Ross was the daughter of John
Brice of Annapolis, and the widow of Dr. David Ross. Peale would have known Mrs. Ross from their
younger days in Annapolis; her brother, Edmund Brice, was Peale’s first pupil
in painting. Elizabeth Tasker Lowndes
was the daughter of Benjamin Tasker of Annapolis, and widow of Christopher
Lowndes. David Ross and Christopher
Lowndes were two of the most prominent citizens of Bladensburg in its early
years. Their two Bladensburg houses,
built in 1746, were among the finest houses in the town. Christopher Lowndes had died in 1785, and
Mrs. Lowndes, in failing health, wanted a portrait of herself for each of her
seven children.
On Sunday, 16 August, Peale “began a
miniature of Mrs. Lounes” and on the next day “began a portrait of Mrs. Lounes
in head size” (i.e., life size, oil on canvas), continuing also to work on the
miniature. He recorded in his journal
over the next few days: “I persue my business of painting the portraits of Mrs.
Lounes, and finish all of them 7 in number vizt. 4 in oil and 3 in miniature,
except the drapery of one of the miniatures which was for Mrs. Francis Lounes,
who living in George Town, neglected sending me directions about it – and I
thus determined to compleat it at George Towne.”
On 8
September, after more than three weeks in Bladensburg, Peale wrote: “Mr. Benjn.
Lounes paid me in full for these pictures 78 £ 15, that is 8 Guineas for the
first Miniature 7 Guineas for the first head size & 6 Guineas for each of
the 5 other Copies – making in all 45 Guineas.
I paid Peggy Adams for my board £ 3:10. And for keeping my Horse – 4.15.0 And left Bladensburg.”[1]
Peale
arrived in Georgetown on the 9th of September, and began a painting
of the three grandchildren of Elizabeth Tasker Lowndes, children of Rebecca
Lowndes and Benjamin Stoddert. His
journal gives considerable detail about the planning and painting of the
children’s portrait[2] and
also the completion and framing of the portraits and miniatures of Mrs.
Lowndes. On 18 September, he “left
George Town and reached Bladensburg to a late dinner.” Staying overnight in Bladensburg, probably at
Margaret Adams’ inn, Peale left Bladensburg on the 19th, heading
north toward home in Philadelphia, recording a poignant note as he departed:
“left Bladensburg at X [10] O clock, and I am apprehensive about the same hour
Mrs. Lounes departed this life. – it was accidental that I visited Bladensburg,
and I am happy that I was in time to paint those 7 portraits which she desired
for her 7 Children.”[3] Heading north, Peale arrived in Philadelphia
on 23 September.
Charles Willson Peale had a habit
of writing into his journal curiosities that he found interesting. For example, while working on Mrs. Lowndes’
portraits in Bladensburg, Peale interrupted the recording of his progress by
copying directions for “preserving Plants in their Original Shape & Colour
. . . “ Similarly, just after reaching
Baltimore on 20 September, he copied into his journal innkeeper Margaret Adams’
detailed recipe for pickling sturgeon.
By Susan Pearl, May 22, 2013.
[1]
Margaret Adams was an elderly black woman who ran a successful Bladensburg inn
that was preferred by President Washington..
See letter from Thomas Lee Shippen to William Shippen, 15 September
1790, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson.
[2]
Now owned by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America and hanging
at Dumbarton House in Georgetown.
[3] At
least two of the oil portraits of Mrs. Lowndes are known to survive – one was
last recorded in the ownership of an art dealer, and the other is now owned and
displayed at the Washington County Museum of Fine Art in Hagerstown, having
been given to the museum by direct descendants of Mrs. Lowndes.
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