AFA 18th Anniversary

2018 Antiques & Fine Art 139 Charles Peale Polk, the orphaned son of Charles Willson Peale’s sister, Elizabeth Digby Peale (1747–1776) and her husband Robert Polk (1744–1777) was given a home and painting lessons by his uncle. Polk’s early style closely followed Charles’, and he found a ready market for his smaller scale versions of Peale’s 1787 life portrait of Washington. Active in Baltimore, western Maryland, and northern Virginia, his success in a more rural context may have contributed to the development of his later bolder, simplified style that gave full reign to his delight in color and pattern. The composition of his portrait of John Hart was one often used by Charles in the 1770s and 1780s, and the sitter’s tight, rosy lips reflect a Peale family anatomical formula. Yet Polk crafts his own crisp, individualized likeness with his description of Hart’s long nose, slightly knitted brow, and dark curling hair. Charles Peale Polk (1767–1822), Mr. John Hart, ca. 1798. Oil on canvas, 37½ x 33⅝ inches. Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch (1968-222-1).