Rebecca Bryan White (Mrs. John White)
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
painted surface: 60.96 × 48.26 cm (24 × 19 in.) overall: 57.15 × 48.9 cm (22 1/2 × 19 1/4 in.) framed: 65.72 × 58.1 × 5.08 cm (25 7/8 × 22 7/8 × 2 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund)
Accession Number
2014.136.97
Art Historical Context
Charles Willson Peale'sRebecca Bryan White (Mrs. John White, painted in 1788, is a finely executed oil-on-canvas portrait measuring about 24 by 19 inches. This intimate scale suits its personal subject, capturing the poise and elegance of Rebecca Bryan White, wife of John White, during the early years of the American Republic. Peale, a prominent Founding Father portraitist known for depicting George Washington and other revolutionaries, employed his signature realism—rooted in Enlightenment ideals—to render lifelike textures, from the soft folds of her dress to the subtle play of light on her ...
About the Artist
Charles Willson Peale · 1741–1827
Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827) was an American painter, museum founder, naturalist, and inventor who became the most important American portraitist of the Revolutionary era and a central figure in the cultural life of the young republic. Born in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, he initially trained as a saddler before turning to painting, studying briefly with John Singleton Copley in Boston and ...