The youngest daughter of the American painter, James Peale, Sarah Miriam Peale was a prominent portrait painter in Baltimore and St. Louis during the mid-nineteenth century. As part of a larger and artistically talented family, this Philadelphia native was initially trained by her father. In 1818, she spent three months studying with her cousin, the noted painter Rembrandt Peale; his influence and inspiration, plus that of her uncle, Charles Willson Peale, were important for her early work.

After experimenting with still lifes and miniatures, Peale exhibited her first full-size portrait at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1817. Six years later she and her sister Anna Claypoole Peale, a miniaturist, became the first two female members of the Academy, an enormously influential Philadelphia institution.

Peale never married, preferring to devote her energies to her career. Her oil portraits quickly became sought after by diplomats, congressmen, and other eminent individuals who visited her studios—first in Baltimore and later in St. Louis. Records show that Peale received many more portrait commissions than such celebrated male painters of the day Thomas Sully and John Vanderlyn. Beginning in 1859, Peale went back to painting still lifes, for which she won numerous awards. She spent the last seven years of her life in Philadelphia, where she lived with her sisters Anna Claypoole and Margaretta Angelica.

Baltimore
St. Louis

Washington
Boston

College of Physicians, Philadelphia, PA, USA (1819) Private lessons (1818)

granddaughter of James Claypoole daughter and student of James Peale daughter of Mary Claypoole Peale niece of James Claypoole Jr. niece of and influenced by Charles Willson Peale sister of Anna Claypoole Peale sister of Margaretta Angelica Peale sister of Maria Peale cousin and student of Rembrandt Peale cousin of Raphaelle Peale cousin of Rubens Peale cousin of Sofonisba Anguissola Peale cousin of Titian Ramsey Peale II cousin of Angelica Kauffman Peale cousin of Rosalba Carriera Peale cousin of Mary Jane Peale cousin of Anna Peale Sellers

First Prize & Second Prize, St. Louis Fair, St. Louis Agricultural & Mechanical Association, St. Louis, MO, USA (1864) First Prize, St. Louis Fair, St. Louis Agricultural & Mechanical Association, St. Louis, MO, USA (1859) Academician, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, USA (1824)

Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, USA (1817)

Preserving the Past, Securing the Future: Donations of Art, 1987-1997

Miss Sarah Miriam Peale, 1800-1885: Portraits & Still Life, Peale Museum, Baltimore, MD, USA (1967)

Philadelphia (died at)