Sid Hart, senior historian at NPG, discusses a portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Charles Willson Peale
Sid Hart, senior historian at NPG, discusses a portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Charles Willson Peale. In 1791 Charles Willson Peale added this portrait of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson to his museum's collection of American heroes. Jefferson appears younger than his fifty years, perhaps evoking the young man the artist remembered as the Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress. Jefferson was well known to Americans in 1791, having also served as governor of Virginia and ambassador to France.
This portrait of Jefferson is from Independence National Historical Park Collection in Philadelphia, and is currently on view at the National Portrait Gallery, in the "Presidents in Waiting" exhibition on the second floor. Sid Hart, senior historian at NPG, recently discussed the painting at a Face-to-Face portrait talk. Recorded at NPG, May 7, 2009. Image info: Thomas Jefferson / Charles Wilson Peale, 1791/ Oil on canvas / Independence National Historical Park Collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania