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Shown from the knees up, a light-skinned man and woman are seated side-by-side on grassy rise in a landscape in this horizontal portrait painting. To our left, the man leans heavily toward the woman to our right, propped on one elbow near her hip. She sits upright, resting one hand over his forearm and wrist. The cleanshaven man looks at her with blue eyes under gray, arched brows. He has a straight nose, round cheeks, a hint of a double chin, and his pale pink lips are closed in a slight smile. He wears a forest-green coat, a white waistcoat embroidered with golden yellow, a white shirt and ruffled tie, and buff-colored breaches. His right hand, to our left, is propped loosely against his hip. Next to that hand, a green parrot stands with its wings lifted as it turns its head back over its body. The man’s other hand, near the woman, holds a long, wooden telescope. The woman looks off into the distance to our left with gray eyes. She has smooth cheeks, a delicate nose, and her pink lips also curl in a faint smile. A strand of pearls weaves through the brown hair loosely piled on her head and through the thick curls that fall over her shoulders. Her white dress is loosely draped around her body. An ocean-blue sash with gold stripes and fringe wraps around her waist, and a sprig of pink flowers is tucked into a fold at her neckline. She holds at least three peaches and a stem of leaves in her lap, and a spray of purple clover blossoms in her other hand, which rests lightly over the man’s forearm. A swath of white fabric, perhaps from her skirt, wraps up and over the man’s thigh, closer to her. Behind the woman, a tree grows on a low hill along the right edge of the canvas and off the top. The landscape opens into an expansive vista to our left with spindly trees growing in a low meadow that leads back to a body of water in the deep distance. Miniscule in scale, tiny boats and buildings line the water’s edge near the horizon. A few thin, silvery gray and petal-pink clouds skim across the pale blue sky.

Charles Willson Peale

Benjamin and Eleanor Ridgely Laming, 1788

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 62

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 106 x 152.5 cm (41 3/4 x 60 1/16 in.)

framed: 125.1 x 171.5 x 7 cm (49 1/4 x 67 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Morris Schapiro

Accession Number

1966.10.1

Artists / Makers

Charles Willson Peale (painter) American, 1741 - 1827

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Overview

Charles Willson Peale was a major figure in American science and art during the revolutionary period. His faith in the educational value of art led him to establish a painting academy in Philadelphia as early as 1795. When that venture failed, Peale combined his scientific and artistic interests in a museum.

In 1788, the Lamings had asked him to do this double portrait. Peale's diary records his activity from 18 September, when he "sketched out the design" after dinner, to 5 October, when he added the final touches. Besides working on the picture, Peale studied natural history at the family's estate outside Baltimore.

Peale cleverly devised a leaning posture for the husband so that his bulk would not overshadow his petite wife. Moreover, this unusual, reclining attitude binds the couple closer together, telling of their love.

The setting, "view of part of Baltimore Town," is appropriate for a wealthy Maryland merchant. The spyglass indicates Laming's interest in shippage by sea, and the green parrot perched behind his leg may recall his birth in the West Indies. Mrs. Laming's fruit and flowers, although traditional emblems of innocence and fertility, could also refer to her own gardening. The detailed attention paid to the bird, plants, scenery, and telescope attests to Peale's encyclopedic knowledge.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century, pages 120-128, which is available as a free PDF at https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-18th-century.pdf

Provenance

Mary Ridgely Palmer [Mrs. Henry Clay Palmer, 1852-1932], Baltimore.[1] Luke Vincent Lockwood [1872-1951] and his wife, Alice Gardner Burnell Lockwood [1874/1875-1954], Greenwich, Connecticut, by 1926;[2] (their sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 13-15 May 1954, no. 455).[3] Morris Schapiro [1882/1883-1969], Baltimore;[4] gift 1966 to NGA.

[1] The portrait is not listed in Mr. Laming's will; he left his property, unitemized, to his wife (will, proved 14 December 1792, Maryland State Archives, Will Book 5, 68-69; copy in NGA curatorial file). Nor is it in Mrs. Laming's will or inventory (will, proved 24 October 1829; Maryland State Archives, Will Book 13, 294-297; inventory, 22 April 1831; Maryland State Archives, Will Book 39, 361-374; copies of both in NGA curatorial file). It probably came to Mrs. Palmer, the great-granddaughter of Mrs. Laming's brother John Ridgely [d.1814], through Ridgely's son Edward [1791-1852], who was Mrs. Laming's heir. Genealogical information on the Lamings was provided by Lynne Hastings of the Hampton National Historic site, Towson, Maryland, and in Edward C. Papenfuse et al., A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789, 2 vols. (Baltimore and London, 1985), 2:681-691. On Mrs. Palmer see Henry Fletcher Powell, Tercentenary History of Maryland, 4 vols. (Chicago and Baltimore, 1925), 4: 717, and her obituary in The New York Times, 18 March 1932, 21.

[2] Mrs. Lockwood informed the Frick Art Reference Library of their ownership of the portrait on 18 March 1926 (letter from Helen Sanger, 24 August 1990, in NGA curatorial file). For the Lockwoods' dates see Who Was Who in America, (Chicago, 1951-1960), 3 (1963): 526 (Luke Vincent Lockwood) and The New York Times, 6 March 1954 (Mrs. Lockwood's obituary). The Lockwoods were collectors of American art and probably bought the painting from Mrs. Palmer.

[3] Parke-Bernet Galleries, XVII and XVIII Century American Furniture and Paintings, The Celebrated Collection Formed by the Late Mr. and Mrs. Luke Vincent Lockwood, [13-15 May 1954], New York, 1954, 128, repro. 129.

[4] Shapiro's obituary in The New York Times, 4 May 1969, identified him as the founder of the Boston Metals Company, Baltimore, and owner of the Laurel Race Course.

Associated Names

Lockwood, Alice Gardner Burnell
Lockwood, Luke Vincent
Palmer, Mary Ridgely
Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc.
Schapiro, Morris, Mr.

Exhibition History

1929: Loan Exibition of Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Furniture & Glass ... Portraits by Stuart, Peale and Others for the Benefit of The National Council of Girl Scouts, Inc., American Art Galleries, N.Y., 1929, no. 834.

1954: Paintings by the Peale Family, Cincinnati Art Museum, 1954, no. 19.

1958: J. Hall Pleasants, A Memorial Exhibition, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1958-1959, 12.

1960: American Painters of the South, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1960, no. 21.

1965: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1965.

1967: The Peale Family: Three Generations of American Artists, Detroit Institute of Arts; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1967, no. 37.

1995: Loan for display with permanent collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1995-1996.

1996: The Peale Family: Creation of a Legacy 1770-1870, Philadelphia Museum of Art; M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1996-1997, no. 157, pl. 18.

2007: Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation, National Art Museum of China, Beijing; Shanghai Museum; The State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow; Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, 2007-2008, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2009: American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life 1765-1915, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2009-2010, unnumbered catalogue, fig. 12.

Bibliography

1929: Loan Exhibition of 18th and Early 19th Century Furniture & Glass ... Portraits by Stuart, Peale and ... for the Benefit of The National Council of Girl Scouts, Inc., Exh. cat. American Art Galleries, N.Y., 1929, no. 834.

1952: Sellers, Charles Coleman. Portraits and Miniatures by Charles Willson Peale. Philadelphia, 1952: 119-120, no. 453, fig. 184.

1954: Paintings by the Peale Family. Exh. cat. Cincinnati Art Museum, 1954: no. 19.

1958: J. Hall Pleasants, A Memorial Exhibition. Exh. cat. Baltimore Museum of Art, 1958-1959: 12.

1960: American Painters of the South. Exh. cat. The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1960: no. 21.

1965: "Loan Collection, 1965," Bulletin of The Metropolitan Museum of Art 23 (April 1965): 280.

1967: The Peale Family: Three Generations of American Artists. Exh. cat. Detroit Institute of Arts; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1967: no. 37.

1969: Sellers, Charles Coleman. Charles Willson Peale. New York, 1969: 231, fig. 51.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 86, repro.

1977: Andrus, Lisa Fellows. "Measure and Design in American Painting, 1760-1860." Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1976, 1977: 118-121, fig. 42.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 205, repro.

1980: Miller, Lillian B., ed. The Collected Papers of Charles Willson Peale and His Family. Microfiche ed. Millwood, N.Y. Fiche IIB/10; IIC, 164-165.

1980: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 10, 13, no. 9, color repro.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: color repro. 52-3, 71.

1982: Hallam, John S. "Charles Willson Peale and Hogarth's Line of Beauty." Antiques 122 (November 1982): 1075-1076, 1078, fig. 7.

1983: Miller, Lillian B., et al., eds. The Selected Papers of Charles Willson Peale and His Family. 5 vols. New Haven and London, 1983-2000: 1(1983):529, 533-543, 636; 5(2000):fig. 3.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 375, no. 525, color repro.

1987: Lovell, Margaretta M. "Reading Eighteenth-Century American Family Portraits: Social Images and Self-Images." Winterthur Portfolio 22, no. 4 (Winter 1987): 247, repro. 251, fig. 10.

1988: Cikovsky, Nicolai, Jr. "Democratic Illusions." In Raphaelle Peale Still Lifes. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Washington, D.C., 1988: 68, no. 15.

1988: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 64, no. 9, color repro.

1991: Prown, Jules David. "Charles Willson Peale in London." In New Perspectives on Charles Willson Peale. Lillian B. Miller and David C. Ward, eds. Pittsburgh, 1991: 44.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 255, repro.

1992: National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 217, repro.

1995: Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 120-128, color repro. 123.

1995: Miles, Ellen G., and Leslie Reinhardt. "Research on the Collections: Charles Willson Peale (American, 1741-1827), Benjamin and Eleanor Ridgely Laming, 1788." Circle Bulletin no. 13 (Spring 1995): 22-25, repro.

1996: Miles, Ellen G., and Leslie Reinhardt. "'Art conceal'd': Peale's Double Portrait of Benjamin and Eleanor Ridgely Laming." Art Bulletin 78, no. 1 (March 1996): 57-74, repro.

1996: Miller, Lillian B. "The Peale Legacy: The Art of an American Family, 1770-1870." American Art Review 8, no. 6 (1996): 140, repro. 142.

1996: Wilson, Janet. The Ingenious Mr. Peale: Painter, Patriot and Man of Science. New York, 1996: repro.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 292, no. 237, color repro.