The son of the preeminent Philadelphia portraitist Charles Willson Peale, Raphaelle Peale was born into an artistic dynasty that included his brothers Rembrandt and Rubens, uncle James, and cousin Sarah Miriam Peale. On May 25, 1797, Raphaelle married Martha (Patty) McGlathery (1775-1852), the daughter of Matthew McGlathery, a master builder, and his wife Margaret (Martha) George. Their union produced seven children between 1799 and 1810, a large brood which proved a financial strain on the painter, who often had to rely on his father for assistance. Although Raphaelle Peale was an able portraitist, to his father’s dismay he engaged in that genre only sporadically, preferring to paint the still lifes of fruit and vegetables for which he is best known. In this portrait of his mother-in-law, a devout Irish Catholic, Peale underscores her devotion to the Scripture by depicting her resting on the Holy Bible, which—evident from the folded spectacles in her hand—she has just been reading.
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- Titles Margaret George McGlathery (died about 1830) (Proper)@Portrait of Margaret George McGlathery (died about 1830) (Label Display)
- Artist Raphaelle Peale, American, 1774 - 1825
- Medium oil on canvas
- Dimensions 29 1/2 x 24 in. (74.9 x 61 cm) frame: 40 1/2 x 34 in. (102.9 x 86.4 cm)
- Credit Line Collection of the Art Fund, Inc. at the Birmingham Museum of Art; Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Crawford L. Taylor, Jr., AFI.5.2009
- Work Type painting
- Classification Paintings
- On View
- Inscription Reverse: Eliza F. Peale / Sept. 2nd, 1830
- Provenance The sitter, Martha George McGlathery (died 1830); by bequest to the artist's daughter, Eliza Ferguson (Peale) Stockton (1799-1876), Mount Vernon, Ohio; by bequest to her niece, Raphella Carrida ("Carrie") Peale (1847-1904) [the daughter of the artist's son, Edmund Peale (1805-1850)]; [gap in provenance]; Private collection (by 1995); Consigned to Owen Gallery, New York, NY; purchased by Mrs. and Mrs. Crawford L. Taylor, Jr., Birmingham, Ala. (1995); gift to the Art Fund, Inc. at the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, 2009
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