FPAR@ ` ₧TEXT ` ÉPeale, Anna Claypoole and Sarah Miriam1791╨1878 and 1800╨1885paintersBorn in Philadelphia, Anna on March 6, 1791, and Sarah on May 19, 1800, the Peale sisters were daughters of James Peale, a painter, and nieces of Charles Willson Peale, a well known portraitist. Painting was a Peale family enterprise, and as James had entered his brother╒s studio and gradually taken over work on backgrounds and in miniatures, so Anna took over miniature work from her father. She exhibited a ╥Fruit Piece╙ at the first exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1811 and three years later showed a ╥Frame containing three miniatures.╙ She then traveled to Washington, D.C., to enter the studio of her uncle Charles and won his highest praise for her miniature portraits on ivory. Her sympathetic portraits, heightened by contrasting backgrounds, brought her more commissions than she could comfortably handle; among her subjects were James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and William Bainbridge. She worked at various times in Boston and Baltimore as well. In 1824 she was elected to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where she exhibited regularly until 1842. Following her marriage (her second) to General William Duncan in 1841 she retired. She died in Philadelphia on December 25, 1878. Her younger sister Sarah first exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1818 with ╥Portrait of a Lady (second attempt).╙ The next year she exhibited two portraits and four still lifes. After a brief time in her uncle Charles╒s studio in Washington she launched an independent career as a portraitist, working in Philadelphia and Baltimore. In 1824 she was elected to the Pennsylvania Academy along with her sister, and she continued to exhibit there annually until 1831. She often shared studio and patronage with her sister. Her portraits were distinctive in their lovingly detailed furs, laces, and fabrics. Her subjects included Thomas Hart Benton, Caleb Cushing, William R. D. King, Daniel Webster, and in 1825 the Marquis de Lafayette. In 1846 she left Baltimore for St. Louis where she was the leading portraitist for 32 years. She later turned to still life painting as well. In 1878 she returned to Philadelphia to live with Anna, now widowed again. She died in Philadelphia on February 4, 1885. The Peale sisters were among the very first women to achieve professional recognition and success as artists in America. åstyl ` ! ¬ ' 5¬ ? 5¬ I !I 5¬ ! !I link `
