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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing) 20 0 Browse Search
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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Fine Arts, the. (search)
inted portraits These were all Englishmen. The first American painter was Benjamin West (q. v.), who spent a greater part of his life in England, where he attained to a high reputation. John Singleton Copley (q. v.) was his contemporary, and painted portraits as early as 1760. At the same time Woollaston had established himself, and painted the portraits of Mrs. Custis (afterwards Mrs. Washington) and her husband, about 1756. He was an Englishman. At the period of the Revolution, Charles Wilson Peale, who had learned the art from Hesselius, a portraitpainter, was the only American, if we except young Trumbull, who might be called a good artist, for Copley had gone to England. So it was that the fine art of painting was introduced. At that time there were no professional architects in the country. Plans for churches, other than the ordinary buildings, were procured from abroad. The meeting-house of that day was only the shell of a dwelling-house, with very little decoration,
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Lafayette, Marie Jean Paul Roch Yves Gilbert Motier, Marquis de 1757- (search)
the French legislature Lafayette's voice was always in favor of liberal measures. In 1824 the Congress of the United States requested President Monroe to invite Lafayette to America as a guest of the republic. He came, but declined the offer of a ship. With his son and a private secretary he landed in New York, Aug. 15, 1824, visited in succession the whole twenty-four States, and was everywhere received with demonstrations of love and respect. General Lafayette. (after a painting by Peale.) Between Washington and Lafayette there had grown up a strong mutual affection during their intercourse in the scenes of the old war for independence. When at the seat of government in October, 1824, while on his visit to the United States, the marquis was conducted to Mount Vernon by George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of Washington, with whom George W. Lafayette had lived in the mansion of the great patriot while Lafayette was an exile from France and in a prison. He was
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Peale, Charles Wilson 1741-1827 (search)
Peale, Charles Wilson 1741-1827 Painter; born in Chestertown, Md., April 16, 1741; was at first apprenticed to a saddler, and afterwards carried on that business, as well as silversmith, watch-maker, and carver. He finally became a portrait-paer of animals, an inventor, and was the first dentist in the country who made sets of artificial teeth. He took Charles Wilson Peale. instructions from Copley, in Boston, in 1770-71; studied at the Royal Academy in London; and in 1772 painted the and opened, in Philadelphia, the first museum in the country, and was the first to give lectures on natural history. Mr. Peale painted several portraits of Washington, among them one for Houdon's use in making his statue of the patriot. He laborstudied under West in London, and, going to Paris, painted portraits of many eminent men for his father's museum. Charles Wilson Peale's youngest son, Titian Ramsey, born in Philadelphia in 1800; died there, March 13, 1885, was also a painter and na
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Uniforms of the American army. (search)
Uniforms of the American army. The American provincial troops serving with British regulars in the colonial wars were generally without uniforms; but there were exceptions. The New Jersey infantry, under Colonel Schuyler, were clad in blue cloth, and obtained the name of The Jersey Blues. Their coats were blue faced with red, gray stockings, and buckskin breeches. The portrait of Washington, painted by Charles Wilson Peale in 1772, shows his dress as a Virginia colonel of infantry to be a blue coat faced with buff, and buff waistcoat and breeches. This was his uniform during the Revolution, and in it he appeared at the session of the second Continental Congress (1775), indicating, as Mr. Adams construed it, his readiness for the field in any station. In this costume he appeared when, early in July, 1775, he took command of the army at Cambridge. There is a political significance in the blue-and-buff-colored uniform. The coats of the soldiers of William of Orange who inva
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Wake Island, (search)
roached it sufficiently near to make observations, but I am confident it would not be seen more than 5 miles off deck by daylight, and in a dark night never in time to avoid it. The famous Wilkes expedition westward from San Francisco to New York hove to off Wake Island on the night of Dec. 19, 1841, and in the morning after breakfast a number of boats were sent ashore to make a survey. They reported a coral island, not more than 8 feet high, and apparently at times submerged. The fish in the lagoon included some fine mullet. The birds were few in number, and very tame, and Mr. Peale found here the short-tailed albatross, and procured an egg from its nest. There were low shrubs upon the island, but no fresh water, and neither pandanus nor cocoanut trees. The outlying reef was very small. The chief importance of the island to the United States is its convenient location for a station for the projected cable from San Francisco to the Philippine Islands. See submarine cables.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Washington, George (search)
the close of 1783. During all the national perplexities after the return of peace, incident to Houdon's bust of Washington. there were several different portraits of Washington painted from life. The first ever made was painted by Charles Wilson Peale, and is a three-quarter length, representing Washington in the costume of a Virginia colonel—a blue coat faced with red, bright metal buttons, having the number of his regiment (22d militia) cast upon them, and dark-red waistcoat and breeches. Peale painted fourteen portraits of Washington at different times, half-lengths and full-lengths, the last in the fall of 1795, which is in the gallery of the New York Historical Society. Other artists had sittings by Washington, and produced portraits of various degrees of merit, the most famous and best-known of whom was Gilbert Stuart. Stuart painted three portraits from life. The first one he rubbed out, not being satisfied with it, and the last one, the head only finished, is the