Titian Ramsay Peale (November 17, 1799 – March 13, 1885) was an American artist,naturalist, andexplorer fromPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania.[1] He was ascientific illustrator whose paintings and drawings of wildlife are known for their beauty and accuracy.[2][3]
Starting around 1855, Peale became an enthusiastic amateur photographer. Many of his photographs featured buildings and landscapes in and around Washington D.C. He joined a local club with other amateur photographers and participated in field trips, photo exchanges and contests. By the end of the Civil War, his interest in photography waned and he only occasionally took pictures.[6]
Peale was born on November 17, 1799 inPhilosophical Hall, Philadelphia, which housed his father'sPhiladelphia Museum.[3] The youngest son of thepolymathCharles Willson Peale and his wife Elizabeth de Peyster, Peale was named after his dead half-brother, also namedTitian Ramsay Peale (1780–1798).[7] The family moved toGermantown, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia, where Peale began collecting and drawingbutterflies and other insects. Some of his drawings were published inThomas Say'sAmerican Entomology as early as 1816, but most remained unpublished until recently.[8] Like his older brothersRaphaelle,Rembrandt, andRubens Peale, Titian helped his father in the preservation of the museum's specimens for display.
In 1819–20, he and Say joined a government-led expedition to theRocky Mountains led byStephen Harriman Long, during which Peale made a large collection of drawings of natural objects and scenery.[11][12]
In the winter of 1824–25, Peale traveled to South Carolina and Florida to collect bird specimens forCharles Lucien Bonaparte's forthcoming quasi-continuation ofAlexander Wilson'sAmerican Ornithology (1825–1833). In Florida, he boarded for a short time at the farm of Bonaparte's cousin,Achille Murat, and returned to Philadelphia in April 1825.[13]
In 1831–32, Peale explored theMagdalena River valley in northern Colombia. According to a notice published byConstantine S. Rafinesque in 1832: "Mr. Peale is just returned from his voyage to South America, and travels in 1831 up the R. Magdalena to Bogota. He has brought a fine zoological collection for the Philadelphia Museum, among which are 500 birds and 50 quadrupeds, which were not there. It is expected that he will publish an account of his zoological travels and discoveries. He asserts the very singular fact that the R. Magdalena has no shells and but few fishes."[14]
Around 1832 Peale was one of the first naturalists to question the veracity ofJohn James Audubon's claim of discovering a new species of eagle.[15]
In 1848, he was removed from the payroll of the scientific corps.[1] In 1851, a fire at theLibrary of Congress destroyed nearly all of the 100 copies of Peale's expedition report,Mammalia and Ornithology (1848), and its publication was delayed.John Cassin was hired to produce a corrected volume, which was published in 1858.
Peale was the second ornithologist known to collect a femalegolden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera), and the first to illustrate it.Thomas Jefferson collected one in 1782.[21] Peale shot his specimen in 1824 nearCamden, New Jersey, and his drawing was engraved by Alexander Lawson and published in Plate 1 ofBonaparte’sAmerican Ornithology; or, the Natural History of Birds Inhabiting the United States, Not Given by Wilson, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey, 1825).[22]
Peale developed an effective method for storing butterflies in sealed cases with glass fronts and backs, and parts of his collection of over 100 species still survive.[23]
He was the curator for the Peale's Museum and was a notable scientific illustrator of Central Plains flora and fauna for several decades. He also designed coins for theUnited States Mint.[24]
^abPorter, Charlotte M. (1985). "The Lifework of Titian Ramsay Peale".Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society.129 (3):300–312.ISSN0003-049X.JSTOR987013.
^abMurphy, Robert Cushman (1957). "The Sketches of Titian Ramsay Peale (1799–1885)".Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society.101 (6):523–531.ISSN0003-049X.JSTOR985520.
^Haifley, Julie Link (1980). "Capital Images: The Photography of Titian Ramsay Peale, 1855-1885".Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C.50:229–244.ISSN0897-9049.JSTOR40067819.
^Stroud, Patricia Tyson (2000).The Emperor of Nature: Charles-Lucien Bonaparte and His World. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.ISBN978-0812235463.
^Rafinesque, Constantine S., ed. (1832)."Scientific explorers in America and Africa".Atlantic Journal and Friend of Knowledge. In Eight Numbers. Containing About 160 Original Articles and Tracts on Natural and Historical Sciences, the Description of About 150 New Plants, and 100 New Animals or Fossils. Many Vocabularies of Languages, Historical and Geological Facts, &c.1: 26.
Sterling, Keir B., ed. (1997). "Peale, Titian Ramsay".Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists. Greenwood Press.
Capt. Abraham de Peyster (1753–1798), married Catherine Livingston, granddaughter ofPhilip Livingston
Frederick de Peyster (1758–1834)
James Ferguson de Peyster (1794–1874), married (1) Susan Maria Clarkson (1800–1823), daughter ofMatthew Clarkson; married (2) Frances Goodhue Ashton (1805–1871)
