Raphaelle Peale is one of the first professional still life painters in America. This multitalented patriarch was also a naturalist and a revolutionary cultural leader during his time. He not only left a legacy of vibrantly wonderful still life portraits, but his work as a naturalist was used as a basis for many studies in an array of fields (Nemerov 13). In his still life paintings, he depicted an uncanny way of passing metaphorical messages. Generally, the mention of Raphaelle Peale evokes a euphoric feeling in both artists and historians.
He was born in seventeen seventy four, to Charles Wilson Peale who was a painter. Like all his four siblings, he was named after a famous artist. His career as a painter began at home with his father as his role model and tutor. In fact, the siblings sometimes collaborated and produced various pieces of art together (Circov 36). Nonetheless, his father considered his brother more talented and thus gave him more opportunities. When he was about nineteen years old, he travelled to South Africa. His first exhibition was in the year 1774 where five portraits and eight other paintings were exhibited. It could be said that this was the beginning of the success of his career. Ideally, Raphaelle Peale is one of the greatest American still life painters basing on his unique methodology and choice of colour and subject presented in his still life paintings.
Career in Still Life Painting
He opened his first museum in the year 1797 together with one of his brothers (Circov 21). The museum was successful, but Raphaelle felt the need to go back to painting miniatures. As such, he abandoned the museum and left it under the care of his brother. He got married at the age of twenty and proceeded to have eight children with his wife Martha McGlathery. After about two years of marriage, he was famous between the years of 1803 to 1805 (Circov 45).
All this time, he juggled his painting talent with his taxidermist career. Due to the long use of arsenic and mercury as a taxidermist, he started getting sick in the year 1806. This affected his success to a great extent. The climax of his success backdrop was in 1809 when he was admitted with delirium and gout of the stomach. From here onwards, Raphaelle suffered debilitating attacks as a result of his sickness (Nemarov 79).
This consummate artist took his sick leave of two years to re- examine his career. After his recovery, he focussed exclusively on still life painting (Nemarov 108). It is noteworthy that still life painting was not famous during this era. In fact, some of the artists never considered him as a professional in painting. Despite this, Raphaelle pursued his passion in still life painting with a lot of fervour. His defiant pursuit earned him several successful exhibitions all over America. His life was thus back on the road to success.
This contributed to his earning regular exhibitions in one of the greatest institutions of artistry. However, his one vice was drinking and overconsumption of alcohol. This further contributed to the deterioration of his health. By the year 1814, the negative effects of his vice were exhibited physically. He lost the use of his legs, and he was unable to walk without crutches (Circov 162). Even though this dampened his spirits, he did not stop pursuing his passion in still life painting. It is for these woks that he is famously known all over the world. Nonetheless, he died at the age of fifty one as a result of alcohol related complications. In his lifetime, he produced about one hundred and fifty still life paintings. About thirty percent of these are known as exceptional paintings while the rest of his pristine still life paintings are in exhibitions worldwide (Circov 82).
Still Life Painting
The visual and intellectual culture of the nineteenth century preferred portraiture to still life painting. This is what probably makes it easier to study Raphaelle’s work. An in-depth look into his work reveals a playful and morbid approach deftly guiding his audience to a different and interesting form of painting. His paintings are infused with a sophisticated balance of colours that create reality and life in still forms. Through this beautiful and extraordinary illustration, artists and audiences all over the world can find a new meaning to the concept of the art of painting.
His influence in still life painting emanated from his many travels around the world. Apparently, he saw and fell in love with still paintings from Mexico on a trip there. This fire was further fuelled when he adored still life paintings from Juan Sanchez which were exhibited together with his paintings in Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. Consequently, he started painting still life art mostly of fruits. In order to bring out a deeper contrast, he always made the background darker. Some of these include; mornings and morning glories painting of 1813, basket of peaches in 1816 and strawberries in 1862. To make them more attractive, he would include a table cloth, a jug of water and even a glass of wine among other things.
Raphaelle preferred to use bright colours which brought out the main subject in a painting. Not only did he apply this on the fruit paintings, but he used the same format in other abstract objects. A typical example in this case is his painting titled “Venus Rising from the Sea” of 1822. He used a stark white colour for the cloth which gives it the illusion of being in the foreground. The exceptional use of undertone helps in bringing out the overlapping cloth edges. On close inspection, there is a hint of the legs and hands of a person.
His paintings applied the nineteenth century preferred materials; oil on canvas or occasionally oil on wood. These materials were known to last longer and produce better portraits at the time (Miller 78). This technique also brought out the aspect of deception, a trait he learnt from his father and perfected by experimenting. It is known that he combined the upward downward strokes of the brush and diagonal ones in order to achieve this effect. Some researchers say that this is a depiction of some psychological problem. He could not share it with anyone and thus passed the message through deceptive and illusionary painting (Born 129).
Apparently, he had a sad life because of his father’s preference of his brother. This plunged him into alcoholism. For some researchers, he painted more during his last days in order to get money for alcohol. The primary source of evidence in this allegation is his painting titled “Venus Rising From The Sea”. This painting was done after he had done another painting labelled “the bath”. The latter seemed happy and full of life evident on the bright colors. However, the other painting is probably a depiction of his nagging wife who came from a more affluent family than Raphaelle (Born 187). The best explanation is that he intended to satirise prudish sensibilities that cover secrets.
Raphaelle is known to have been immensely keen and sober in his choice of subjects. A great variation can be seen from his choices to that of the other family members (Circov 198). He did not favour copious arrays of subjects like his uncle who was also a great painter. Instead, he chose to focus on fewer subjects and place more attention on them. A good example in this case is his painting on a bowl of peaches (Miller 198). It is a simple arrangement of peaches on a bowl with minimal ornamentation of two leaves. In cases where he did combinations, there was a maximum of two.
Every painting is a story of the life of the people at the time the painting was done. Raphaelle’s father concentrated on portraiture which was bought by the wealthy merchants largely due to the prices. This is probably why Raphaelle portrays expensive chinaware in his paintings. The choice of fruits and their arrangement is an exact replica of how the fruits were served to the merchants by their maids. They also depict the existence of horticultural farming. At one point, he even used a cake which was a famous form of dessert. In this way, he could relate to both the world and his clients. Furthermore, his paintings could be used to relay history just like it is right now. It is with this bout of evidence that Raphaelle would be termed as a minimalist.
Raphaelles prowess can be seen in the way he connected disparate objects. Two good examples of such paintings are; the head of the cabbage and still life with steak. In the latter painting, he uses the outline of a cabbage to produce the shape of a steak (Nemerov 121). He has also combined a skull in a cabbage. Both titles are metaphorical and a presentation of what the painting contains. This combination shows that there is a hidden message behind each of Raphaelle’s paintings.
Conclusion
The works of Raphaelle Peale have placed him among the most renowned painters of still life. Not only was he the pioneer of this form of art in America, but he dedicated all his efforts in producing the best. His creative choice of subjects in his work is one of the reasons behind his success. He also knew how far to go with his colours, using them so tactfully to bring out an almost live object. The deception and metaphorical titles given to his works are a depiction of his prowess and intelligence. He took the role of a teacher, who fed his students with part of the knowledge leaving them to quench their zeal for knowledge. He hoped that with this, he would be able to pass his message across. Even with his pathetic demise, his work was pristine and exceptional.
Works Cited
Born, Wolfgang. Still Painting in America. New York: Cengage Publishers, 2001, PRINT.
Cikovsky, Nicolai. Raphaelle Peale Still Lifes. Ohio: Pro Quo Books, 2005, PRINT.
Miller, Lillian. The Peale Family: Creation Of A Legacy, 1770-1870. New York: Abbeville Press, 1996, PRINT.
Nemerov, Alexander. The Body Of Raphaelle Peale: Still Life And Self Hood, 1812-1824. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2001, PRINT.
