COVER ART

Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860)

Rubens Peale with a Geranium (1801)

P
ARENTS COMMUNICATE THEIR ASPIRATIONS

for their children in various ways. Charles
Willson Peale was not subtle; he named 6
of his 17 children Raphaelle, Rembrandt, Ru-
bens, Titian, Angelica Kauffmann, and

Sophonisba Angusciola. The strategy worked. Three of
them grew up to be professional artists, including Rem-
brandt Peale, who painted this affectionate portrait of his
17-year-old brother Rubens when the artist was 23.

Rubens Peale, however, was cursed with bad eye-
sight and frail health as a young boy. Barely able to see
the letters in books, he struggled in school and at draw-
ing. Encouragement to persist in his efforts came from
no less a source than Benjamin Franklin, a visitor to the
Peale household, but Rubens came to realize that his natu-
ral gifts lay elsewhere. As early as age 10, he showed un-
usual talent at growing plants and raising birds. The por-
trait shows him gently probing the soil around a rare
variety of geranium with 2 fingers of his right hand, a
keen sense of touch helping to compensate for his poor
vision.

How did a boy so young develop such an interest in rare
plants and birds? It helped that he grew up in a museum.
His father Charles founded the Philadelphia Museum in
1784 as a business and his family lived right in the build-
ing. In the spirit of the Age of Enlightenment, the mu-
seum sought to be “a world in miniature,” its collection
including exotic plants and stuffed animals, historical ar-
tifacts from the Lewis and Clark Expedition, scientific in-
struments, works of art, and more. For 25 cents admis-
sion, parents in postcolonial Philadelphia could bring their
children for both instruction and entertainment.

Although they pursued different careers, the 2 broth-
ers Rembrandt and Rubens remained close and shared
adventures. Later in 1801, both got involved in another
of their father’s projects excavating 2 mastodon skel-
etons in upstate New York—truly a mammoth under-
taking. They sailed with the ancient bones to England,
where Rembrandt studied old European masters while
Rubens ran a mastodon exhibit and learned about Brit-
ish museum management. Later, they directed a new mu-
seum in Baltimore, Md, and Rubens set up and ran an-
other in New York.

Economic hard times hurt museum patronage badly.
Eventually the family had to close the museums and sell
most of their holdings to showman P. T. Barnum. Many
of the artifacts subsequently perished in a warehouse fire.
Fortunately, much of the Peale art collection was pur-
chased by the city of Philadelphia and can still be seen
in art museums and in Independence National Histori-
cal Park.

In retirement, Rubens could no longer resist the fate
conferred on him by the name his father had chosen for
him and he took up painting. In the last decade of his
life, he painted over 130 canvases—still lifes, flower paint-
ings, and landscapes showing gardens that he himself had
planted as a boy.

Correspondence: Dr Koepsell, Department of Epidemi-
ology, University of Washington, F-261F Health Sci-
ences, Box 357236, Seattle, WA 98195 (koepsell@u
.washington.edu).

Thomas D. Koepsell, MD, MPH

Star Wars raised our boys, taught them how
to read and do math, and put them on the
fast track to an interest in computer sci-
ence.

—Letter to the editor in Time magazine, May
30, 2005

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