American Art History Digitallysponsored by the Terra Foundation for American ArtWest on the Walls: The 1807 Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine ArtsInteractive Feature
by Wendy Bellion, Lea C. Stephenson, and James Kelleher, with Allan McLeod and Kristen Nassif
Wendy Bellion is professor of art history and Sewell C. Biggs Chair in American Art at the University of Delaware, where she also serves as director of the Center for Material Culture Studies. Her research focuses on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century art and material culture in North America and the Atlantic World. Her major publications include Iconoclasm in New York: Revolution to Reenactment (Penn State University Press, 2019) and Citizen Spectator: Art, Illusion, and Visual Perception in Early National America (University of North Carolina Press, 2011), which was awarded the Charles Eldredge Prize by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. A forthcoming volume, Things Change: Material Cultures of the Mobile Eighteenth Century, coedited with Kristel Smentek, will be published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2023.
Email the author: wbellion[at]udel.edu
Lea C. Stephenson is a PhD candidate in art history at the University of Delaware. Her work focuses on late nineteenth-century American and British art, specifically the Gilded Age and the relationship between the senses, embodiment, and portraiture. Her current projects explore late nineteenth-century Egyptomania and the relationship between American Orientalism and empire. She received her MA from the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art in 2017. Stephenson has also previously worked at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Preservation Society of Newport County, Dallas Museum of Art, and the Clark Art Institute.
Email the author: lcsteph[at]udel.edu
James Kelleher is an architectural historian and museum professional specializing in the seventeenth through early nineteenth centuries. He received his master’s degree from the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, where his thesis focused on domestic architecture in southeastern Massachusetts from 1650 to 1720. His research interests include the persistence of English traditions in Colonial American building, the intersections of architecture and social life, and local variations in building practices.
Email the author: j.ian.kelleher[at]gmail.com
Citation: Wendy Bellion, Lea C. Stephenson, and James Kelleher, with Allan McLeod and Kristen Nassif, “West on the Walls: The 1807 Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,” Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 21, no. 1 (Spring 2022), https://doi.org/10.29411/ncaw.2022.21.1.21.
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Scholarly Article|Interactive Feature|Project Narrative
1 Peale’s sketch represents his second effort at arranging the exhibition room. He experimented with the east side of the rotunda before settling on the west half for the installation. His numbered sketch organizes the paintings from left to right. Visitors entered the exhibition room through the at the southern point of the building, progressing north along the west wall. Inside, they encountered an elegant neoclassical rotunda. It was one of the largest and brightest public spaces in Philadelphia: illuminated by a skylight, the room measured an impressive forty-six feet wide and rose eighteen feet from the floor to the base of the dome. Peale’s sketch indicates that he chose a sizable biblical scene from Fulton’s collection for the introductory wall, Antonia Balestra’s Death of Abel (ca. 1701–4).
2 Peale installed portraits over the two side doors in the western half of the rotunda: Benjamin West’s self-portrait () over the southwestern door, and his own portrait of the Pennsylvania Academy President George Clymer () over the northwestern door. Each doorway opened onto rooms or stairwells in the corners of the building. By locating these paintings over passageways, Peale gave visual priority to the individuals represented in the portraits, reminding viewers of their significance to the academy.
Yet Peale’s sketch also omits key details about the rotunda’s architecture: each side door was set back from the room within a slight recess. Rectangular panels above each door provided modest ornamentation. Peale likely installed the portraits in the open wall space between the top of the doors and the base of these panels.
3 Absent in Peale’s drawing is a third recess that was located between Peale inaccurately represented the space between the two doorways as one continuous wall. A description of the rotunda in the Port Folio (1809) suggests that two walls (or “pedestals”) occupied this space, separated by an ornamental recess.[2] West’s paintings King Lear and Hamlet: Act IV, Scene V (Ophelia before the King and Queen) were probably too wide for these pedestals. Peale must have installed them so that they extended over the recess, meeting at the center. His sketch elides the awkward fact of this installation.
4 Peale added a double line and noted “G Baise” in the right margin of his sketch, denoting the location of a stanchion to hold a green baize curtain that he described in his letter to Fulton. suggest the hanging of this felt-like cloth. Matching lines on the left margin of the sketch and the barely visible letters “Baise” show that he also installed a curtain at the south side of the room. Peale explained to Fulton that the curtain was six feet tall and bisected the spacious rotunda, thereby providing an appropriate “distance for viewing the Paintings,” together with a table in the center of the room.[3] Peale probably moved the plaster casts and busts that ordinarily occupied the exhibition room behind the baize curtain to maintain viewers’ focus on the paintings.
5 Peale’s sketch prominently featured . Fulton had commissioned these paintings—and engravings after them—as illustrations for Joel Barlow’s poem The Columbiad (1807).[4] When Peale shared his installation plan, Fulton replied with concern, worrying that “the effect of Mr. Smirks delicate paintings may be diminished if Suspended under the bold works of Mr. West.”[5] Fulton encouraged Peale to consider “whether it is not best to hang them by themselves and about eye high with this inscription
From Mr. Barlows Columbiad”
Fulton even sketched a counter-proposal showing one painting placed above two symmetrical rows of five canvases each. It is unknown whether or not Peale adjusted his design to satisfy Fulton.
6 beneath the square labeled “Abel” marks the area where Peale intended to add more paintings after hanging most of Fulton’s collection. These included portraits of Joel Barlow and Charles Stanhope, both painted by Fulton; a canvas Peale referenced as “Adam and Eve”; three genre scenes by Netherlandish artists named in Fulton’s promotional essay for the exhibition; and an unknown number of paintings contributed by a local Dutch merchant. Peale provided no further clues regarding his installation of these paintings, and it is possible he found places for them elsewhere on the west walls of the room. (For additional information about these works, see “IV. Works Not Illustrated in Peale’s Sketch”).
Elsewhere, Peale’s letters offer insights about his design choices. Peale wrote to Fulton that his installation followed the European exhibition practice of hanging major paintings “on the line,” “inclining a little forward, about 4, 5, or 6 feet from the floor.”[6] He created visual balance by putting large paintings on adjacent walls and placing small paintings around and beneath them in the mode of academic Salons.
A Antonio Balestra’s Death of Abel was one of several European paintings included in Fulton’s collection and illustrated in Peale’s sketch for the exhibition. Balestra (1666–1740), an Italian painter, depicted the famous biblical story in which Abel is killed by his brother Cain. Together with other paintings by Continental artists, Balestra’s work underscored the transatlantic efforts that brought Fulton’s collection to Philadelphia. It was one of the first pictures encountered by visitors entering the academy’s front doors, presenting a dramatic introduction. It also served the academy’s educational purposes by encouraging visitors to “contemplate and understand the beauty and excellence of art,” as the Port Folio suggested in 1809.[7] Death of Abel remained at the academy after the 1807 exhibition. In later academy exhibition catalogues, the work is attributed to Johann Karl Loth and listed as part of the 1811 exhibition (the painting was deaccessioned in 1989).
B Benjamin West pauses while completing a portrait of his wife, who appears to engage the eye of the viewer. He wears a painter’s robe, referencing his role as a president of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. West gave the painting to Robert Fulton in gratitude for his patronage.
At the exhibition, West’s self-portrait stood in for the absent artist, reinforcing his association with the academy. West was appointed an honorary member in 1806 and optimistically predicted that Philadelphia would become “the Athens of the Western World.”[8] Peale installed the self-portrait prominently above the left door in the southwest point of the rotunda, next to West’s portrait of Fulton. He placed a portrait of the Pennsylvania Academy president, George Clymer, over another door in the room, creating a visual and spatial link between two figures central to the institution.
C Although best known today for his invention of the steamboat Clermont, Robert Fulton originally aspired to be a painter. He sailed from the US to England in 1786 in hopes of studying with West and maintained connections to a transatlantic community of artists long after turning to science. West portrayed Fulton in elegant dress and referenced his engineering prowess by depicting torpedoes exploding in the background. Fulton had acquired West’s large Shakespearean paintings from the Boydell Gallery in London, and his collection formed the basis of the academy’s 1807 exhibition.
Peale placed Fulton’s portrait adjacent to West’s self-portrait, underlining the connections between them. Although both men were physically absent from the exhibition, Peale’s installation gave them a tangible presence, cementing their roles as patrons of the academy.
D Rembrandt Peale depicts his brother Rubens, a botanist and manager of the Philadelphia Museum, in the act of nurturing a geranium. The informal style of the portrait communicates the family’s collaboration on various projects, including art and natural history: Rembrandt helped his father exhume mastodon skeletons in New York; Rubens painted still lifes. Charles Willson Peale’s inclusion of this portrait in the 1807 exhibition served to connect his family visually with Benjamin West and Robert Fulton, linking his sons to a transatlantic network of prominent individuals. He also implicitly visualized the importance of his own museum—and thereby appealed to Joel Barlow, Fulton’s patron and friend, who hoped to develop a national university that included an art museum.
E King Lear was a key painting in Peale’s exhibition plan. Its central placement next to Ophelia underscored West’s connection to the establishment of the academy. A Pennsylvania native who rose to become the president of Britain’s Royal Academy of Arts, West was credited with inspiring generations of colonial North American artists who trained in his London studio.
King Lear was originally exhibited in John Boydell’s (1719–1804) Shakespeare Gallery in Pall-Mall together with West’s Hamlet: Act IV, Scene V (Ophelia before the King and Queen).[9] As described in Boydell’s catalogue, West represented the play’s climatic heath scene, when Lear struggles through a storm, tearing off his clothing and uttering the famous lines, “Off off you lendings:—come, unbutton here.” Fulton purchased King Lear after Boydell closed his gallery and auctioned the paintings.[10] In Philadelphia, the painting’s significance was transformed for US audiences: together with Ophelia, it was cast as the foundation for a new school of art.
King Lear was celebrated in Joel Barlow’s poem The Columbiad (1807), which Fulton helped to produce.[11] The epic poem was printed in Philadelphia shortly before the academy exhibition, preparing the way for the reception of West’s paintings. Fulton further promoted King Lear in an essay he provided to local papers.[12] Additional versions of King Lear at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Rhode Island School of Design attest to the work’s popularity. Rembrandt Peale also made a copy of King Lear that he exhibited at his Baltimore Museum in 1814.
Peale and Fulton unsuccessfully lobbied the Pennsylvania Academy to purchase West’s paintings, which remained on display for nine years. In 1818, Fulton’s widow sent King Lear to New York for exhibition at the American Academy of Fine Arts. It was subsequently sold and acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
F West’s second Shakespeare painting drew from the play Hamlet, picturing Ophelia, Hamlet’s ill-fated lover, who takes her life after mistakenly believing Hamlet to be dead. In this scene, Ophelia appears in a confused state before the Danish king and queen, speaking incoherently and scattering flowers as her brother Laertes appeals heavenward for an explanation of her behavior. West painted the work for Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery in London. Boydell reproduced it in a folio of engravings published in 1803. After the closure of the Shakespeare Gallery, Fulton acquired Ophelia together with King Lear.
Peale complimented the painting, telling Fulton, “The Pic[ture] of Ophelia is an admirable Work, it fixes the attention of the beholders more than the other, yet both are in a grand Stile of composition and finely painted.”[13] Paired with King Lear, Ophelia demonstrated the potential of ambitious history painting to Philadelphia audiences. Fulton emphasized their significance: “These two paintings are in the true style of classick composition, and while they excite the highest respect for the talents of the artist, they reflect great honour on the genius of our country, they are of themselves a basis for forming a good taste in our new school of art.”[14]
G Robert Fulton commissioned the British artist Robert Smirke to paint eleven scenes from Joel Barlow’s The Columbiad. He also arranged for British and Italian engravers to reproduce them for the publication. In gratitude, Barlow dedicated the poem to Fulton. The whereabouts of the original paintings are unknown: after the 1807 exhibition, they went either to the American Academy of Fine Arts in New York or to Fulton’s heirs. At least three of Smirke’s paintings featured in an auction of Samuel L. M. Barlow’s (1826–89) collection in 1890 at the American Art Galleries.[15] Here, the engravings substitute for the unlocated paintings:
1. Robert Smirke (artist) and Ankar Smith (engraver), Hesper Appearing to Columbus in Prison, ca. 1805–6.
2. Robert Smirke (artist) and Bromley (engraver), Capac and Oella Instructing the Peruvians in Agriculture and Spinning, ca. 1805–6.
3. Robert Smirke (artist) and Parker & Goulding (engraver), Zamor Killed by Capac, ca. 1805–6.
4. Robert Smirke (artist) and Luigi Schiavonetti (engraver), Inquisition, ca. 1805–6.
5. Robert Smirke (artist) and Robert Cromek (engraver), Cesar Passing the Rubicon, ca. 1805–6.
6. Robert Smirke (artist) and James Neagle (engraver), Cruelty Presiding over the Prison Ship, ca. 1805–6.
7. Robert Smirke (artist) and Ankar Smith (engraver), The Murder of Lucinda, ca. 1805–6.
8. Robert Smirke (artist) and by James Heath, corrected by Goulding (engraver), Cornwallis Resigning His Sword to Washington, ca. 1805–6.
9. Robert Smirke (artist) and Abraham Raimbach (engraver), The Rape of the Golden Fleece, ca. 1805–6.
10. Robert Smirke (artist) and Abraham Raimbach (engraver), Initiation to the Mysteries of Isis, ca. 1805–6.
11. Robert Smirke (artist) and Goulding (engraver), The Final Resignation of Prejudices, ca. 1805–6.
H Charles Willson Peale painted George Clymer (1739–1813), the Pennsylvania Academy’s first president, and located his portrait prominently above a door in the exhibition room. Clymer was a politician and signer of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. When the academy opened in spring 1807, he delivered an inaugural address expounding on the future of US art and Philadelphia’s prominence as a cultural center. Peale’s inclusion of Clymer’s portrait in the exhibition also showcased his own artistic abilities and contributions as a director of the academy.
I Raphael West (1769–1850), son of Benjamin West, painted the third Boydell Gallery work included in the academy exhibition, a scene from Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It. Unlocated, it is represented here by William Wilson’s engraving. Raphael West was trained by his father and often depicted Shakespearean subjects. Fulton praised the work: “This picture has something very original—it approaches to the style of Salvator Rosa, is well imagined, finely drawn and boldly executed. On examining it we have to lament that the world is not in possession of more of the works of this gentleman, for his genius is certainly of the highest order.”[16] The painting was later exhibited at the American Academy of Fine Arts in New York together with other works from Fulton’s collection. It was sold at auction in 1828 and again the next year in London together with a large sale of Benjamin West’s pictures.[17]
No. 12 Peale installed a work identified as “Pynacker” below Lear and Ophelia. Fulton called the work Angel Appearing to the Shepherds, “a charming work for effect and transparency.”[18] The artist was probably Adam Pynacker (1622–73). A work by Pynacker in the collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco bears a title closely resembling Fulton’s description: The Annunciation to the Shepherds (ca. 1640, oil on panel).[19]
No. 13 Peale’s letter to Fulton labeled a work by “Ravenstein” as number 13, and the corresponding detail in his sketch included a facial profile. Fulton described it as a Portrait of an Old Man by “Ravintine,” “curious for its high finish.”[20] The artist was probably Jan van Ravestyn (1572–1657), a seventeenth-century Dutch artist known as a portraitist.
No. 16 Peale queried Fulton: “Wouvermans?”[21] The work appeared as number 16, located beneath Ophelia. It does not appear in Fulton’s account. The artist may have been Philip Wouwerman (or Wouwermans, 1619–68), a Dutch painter known for landscapes and scenes of peasant life.
Works not Illustrated in Peale’s Sketch
Skalkin, The Troubadour
Fulton’s account of the exhibition referenced three works by Netherlandish artists in his collection, none of which Peale noted in his sketch or letter. No information on a period artist named Skalkin has been located, though this may have been a misspelled reference to Godfried Schalcken (1643–1706). It is possible the work was incorrectly attributed or reattributed after the exhibition; many European paintings exhibited in the early US are believed to have been copies after better-known artists or incorrectly attributed by collectors.
[Adriaen van?] Ostade, The Slaughtered Bullock
Fulton described this work as “a very curious piece of still life,” identifying the artist by his last name only.[23] It is possible the painter was Adriaen van Ostade (1610–85). No information has been found for this work, and it may have subsequently been reattributed as a studio work or copy.
[Adriaen?] Brouwer, The Flemish Boors
Fulton cited only the artist’s last name and title in the account provided to Poulson’s. It may have been Adriaen Brouwer’s Boors Drinking (1640), which was later included in exhibitions at the academy (1811, 1812, 1814, 1818–20). After 1820, the work no longer appeared in academy exhibition or collection records.[24]
Adam and Eve
Peale mentioned a work he called “Adam and Eve” in his letter to Fulton, asking who painted the canvas. Fulton paired it with Balestra’s Abel in his Poulson’s account: “Adam and Eve and the death of Abel is by an Italian artist, whose name we cannot announce at present.”[25] Antonio Molinari was likely the artist: works by the two Italian painters appeared in the academy’s annual exhibition catalogues after 1811 (the academy deaccessioned both works in 1989). They were presumably acquired from or donated by Fulton. Today Molinari’s work, entitled The Temptation of Adam and Eve, is in the collection of the David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State University.
Robert Fulton, Charles, Third Earl of Stanhope
Fulton paid tribute in 1795 to his fellow engineer and patron Charles Stanhope, the third Earl of Stanhope. Peale did not note its location in his sketch of the academy wall. It is possibly the portrait now documented by the Catalog of American Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.[26]
Robert Fulton, Portrait of Joel Barlow
Fulton referenced his portrait of Barlow in his promotional squib, but it was neither pictured nor annotated in Peale’s sketch. It was probably one of two works: a portrait in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, which served as the basis for the engraved frontispiece of Barlow in The Columbiad, or a portrait in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.[27]
“Mr. Lichleightner”
Accounts of the exhibition in Poulson’s and other publications noted “a number of fine paintings belonging to Mr. Lichleightner” and available for sale.[28] The editors of the Selected Papers identified this individual as P. G. Lechleitner, a merchant later appointed consul for the Netherlands.[29] Rembrandt Peale later described “Lichleightner” as a Dutchman with a “choice collection of pictures for sale.”[30]
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