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D2013-CMD. Portrait of John Custis Wilson 2013-103
Portrait of John Wilson
D2013-CMD. Portrait of John Custis Wilson 2013-103

Portrait of John Wilson

Date1791
Artist Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827)
OriginAmerica, Maryland, Somerset County
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOH: 41" X OW: 31 1/2" (framed) H: 35 1/2" X W: 26 1/2" (sight)
Credit LinePartial Gift, Dr. John McFarland Bergland III and Museum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund
Object number2013-103
DescriptionA three quarter length portrait of a young man seated at the base of a tree. Dressed in a green-gray ensamble, the man holds a hunting rifle in is lap. The man is turned slightly to his right, revealing a hunting dog in the left middleground. The background depicts an outdoor scene, likely a part of the man's plantation, with a purple-blue sky above a winding stream. A overturned hat and a dead bird are placed beside him, to the sitter's proper left. Above the hat, "C.W. Peale/ painted 1791" is painted on the trunk of the tree.
Label TextIn 1791, the country’s preeminent artist Charles Willson Peale rendered these likenesses of John Wilson and his wife Peggy, along with a portrait of their son. The artist’s diary notes that the images were completed in less than two weeks while he was a guest at the couple’s Westover Plantation on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The paintings are impressive examples of Peale’s always outstanding work. Wilson’s relaxed pose, his hunting rifle, and the expanse of open land in the background of the painting combined with the floral spray and still life composition in Peggy’s companion portrait convey the utmost gentility and refinement of the couple who was later described by Peale as “one of the richest in the country.” Receipts for the three pictures totaled £52.10.0, the equivalent of two very fine mahogany desks and bookcases or over four dozen mahogany chairs.

The portraits of John Wilson and his wife, displayed here in their original gilt frames, are reunited for the first time in over 60 years.


InscribedLower right corner: "C.W. Peale/ painted 1791"
ProvenanceThe artist to Colonel John Custis WIlson; to his son Henry Parke Custis Wilson; to Ellen Savage; to Susan Wilson Mackenzie; to Julie Whitridge; to John McFarland Berland III (1997); to Colonial Williamsburg.