"Father of American Painting" Accused of Murder
Contact: Michael Sommermeyer, [email protected], (806) 742-2339
LUBBOCK -- Jealousy and greed, two common motives for murder. But are they enough to cause a father to allow his son to die? Whether through negligence or malice, the man popularly known as the 'Father of American Painting' may have done just that. This incredible claim comes from a Texas Tech University art historian who has uncovered a surprising family secret connected to the beginnings of American art and the science of taxidermy.
Charles Wilson Peale, and his sons, are considered among the greatest painters of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They specialized in painting portraits of famous people of the time, notably George Washington. Peale also invented a new taxidermy process. Texas Tech University art Professor Phoebe Lloyd, Ph.D., based on a review of actual documents in the Peale archive, believes Peale may have known -- and kept the knowledge secret -- that this taxidermy process would eventually kill his oldest son Raphaelle. The motive? A combination of family rivalry, jealousy and a father's wish to promote the talent of another son, Rembrandt.
The taxidermy process developed by Peale involved the use of arsenic and mercury to preserve specimens and keep them intact. The combination of the heavy metals slowly robbed Raphaelle of his health, social skills and ability to paint. Lloyd says Raphaelle later turned to alcohol to numb the pain and isolation caused by the effects of the poisons. He also gave up painting portraits, because the heavy metal poisoning destroyed his ability to communicate, and turned to painting still lifes to find solace and comfort in his childhood memories.
Lloyd alleges the older Peale knew the poisons would kill anyone who worked with them for an extended period of time and even had found an antidote for the poisons. And while he took the antidote himself, incredibly, Peale never revealed the antidote to his son. This knowledge, combined with jealousy, Lloyd contends, led Peale to sacrifice Raphaelle.
"I think the root of the problem is that Raphaelle was his mother's favorite son," said Lloyd. "And I think his father was jealous of him."
So why would he allow his son to die? Lloyd speculates Charles Peale dwelled on his jealousy and did everything he could to prevent Raphaelle from succeeding. Lloyd says he may have gone on to slowly poison his son, to further the career of Rembrandt and to collect money from the highly lucrative taxidermy business.
The story is not without controversy. The editor of the Peale Papers, the late Lillian Miller, objected to the theory. But the mysterious lack of family records and an obscure set of family papers led Lloyd to conclude that Peale had indeed been at the very least guilty of negligence or manslaughter.
Lloyd's examination of this mystery will be the topic of a forthcoming book. A series of papers about the theory already have been published in numerous art journals.
Finally, while Charles Peale may have been at the very least guilty of murder, Lloyd speculates Raphaelle may have understood his father's motivations and understood he had a role as the family's sacrificial lamb.
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Contact: Phoebe Alice Lloyd, Ph.D., art professor, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-3825.
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