View source for Titian Peale

{{Short description|American naturalist, artist and explorer (1799–1885)}}
{{confusion|Titian Ramsay Peale I}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox artist
| bgcolour         =
| name             = Titian Ramsay Peale
| image            = Titian Ramsay Peale 2 1799-1885.jpg
| imagesize        =
| caption          =
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1799|11|17}}
| birth_place      = [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], US
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1885|3|13|1799|11|2}}
| death_place      = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
| field            = Drawing and [[Watercolor]]<br />[[Natural history]]
| training         = [[Charles Willson Peale]]<br />[[Thomas Say]]
| movement         =
| works            = [[American Philosophical Society]]
| patrons          =
| influenced       =
| awards           =
}}

'''Titian Ramsay Peale''' (November 17, 1799 – March 13, 1885) was an American artist, [[naturalist]], and [[Exploration|explorer]] from [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Porter|first=Charlotte M.|date=1985|title=The Lifework of Titian Ramsay Peale|journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|volume=129|issue=3|pages=300–312|jstor=987013|issn=0003-049X}}</ref> He was a [[Technical illustration#Techniques|scientific illustrator]] whose paintings and drawings of wildlife are known for their beauty and accuracy.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Peale|first=Titian Ramsay|title=Titian Ramsay Peale Sketches|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/collections/view?docId=ead/Mss.B.P31.15d-ead.xml|access-date=2020-08-28|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Murphy|first=Robert Cushman|date=1957|title=The Sketches of Titian Ramsay Peale (1799–1885)|journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|volume=101|issue=6|pages=523–531|jstor=985520|issn=0003-049X}}</ref>

Peale was a member of several high-profile scientific expeditions. In 1819–20, he and [[Thomas Say]] accompanied [[Stephen Harriman Long]] on an [[Stephen H. Long's Expedition of 1820|expedition to the Rocky Mountains]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=James|first1=Edwin|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/61116|title=Account of an expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819 and '20 : by order of the Hon. J.C. Calhoun, sec'y of war: under the command of Major Stephen H. Long. From the notes of Major Long, Mr. T. Say, and other gentlemen of the exploring party /|last2=Long|first2=Stephen Harriman|last3=Say|first3=Thomas|last4=Adams|first4=John|date=1823|publisher=H.C. Carey and I. Lea ...|location=Philadelphia}}</ref> He was also a member of the [[United States Exploring Expedition]] (1838–1842).<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Expedition|first1=United States Exploring|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/69333|title=United States Exploring Expedition. During the year 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842.|last2=Dougal|first2=William H.|last3=Stuart|first3=Fred D.|last4=Wilkes|first4=Charles|last5=Congress|first5=Library of|last6=Congress|first6=U. S.|last7=States|first7=United|last8=States|first8=United|date=1844|publisher=Printed by C. Sherman|location=Philadelphia}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Haifley|first=Julie Link|date=1980|title=Capital Images: The Photography of Titian Ramsay Peale, 1855-1885|journal=Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C.|volume=50|pages=229–244|jstor=40067819|issn=0897-9049}}</ref>

== Biography ==

=== Family and early life ===
Peale was born on November 17, 1799 in [[Philosophical Hall]], Philadelphia, which housed his father's [[Peale's Philadelphia Museum|Philadelphia Museum]].<ref name=":1" /> The youngest son of the [[polymath]] [[Charles Willson Peale]] and his wife Elizabeth de Peyster, Peale was named after his dead half-brother, also named [[Titian Ramsay Peale I|Titian Ramsay Peale]] (1780–1798).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Selected Papers of Charles Willson Peale and His Family {{!}} Yale University Press|url=https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300034226/selected-papers-charles-willson-peale-and-his-family|access-date=2020-08-28|website=yalebooks.yale.edu}}</ref> The family moved to [[Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Germantown, Pennsylvania]], outside of Philadelphia, where Peale began collecting and drawing [[butterflies]] and other insects. Some of his drawings were published in [[Thomas Say]]'s ''American Entomology'' as early as 1816, but most remained unpublished until recently.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Calhoun, J. V.|first1=& D. M. Wright|title=Remarks on the recent publication of Titian R. Peale's "lost manuscript," including new information about Peale's Lepidoptera illustrations.|journal=Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera|date=2016|volume=49|pages=21–51|doi=10.5962/p.266461 |s2cid=192548427 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/55955159#page/23/mode/1up|doi-access=free}}
</ref> Like his older brothers [[Raphaelle Peale|Raphaelle]], [[Rembrandt Peale|Rembrandt]], and [[Rubens Peale|Rubens]] Peale, Titian helped his father in the preservation of the museum's specimens for display.

=== Scientific career and expeditions ===
[[File:Titian Ramsay Peale.jpg|thumb|[[Charles Willson Peale]], portrait of Titian Ramsay Peale in the uniform of the [[Long's Expedition of 1820|Long Expedition]], ca. 1819]]
Peale was a member of the "first private, museum sponsored exploration in the United States", when he joined [[William Maclure]], Thomas Say, and [[George Ord]] on an expedition to Florida and Georgia in 1817, sponsored by the [[Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University|Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=American Philosophical Society Library|first=Philadelphia, PA|title=George Ord Collection (Mss.B.Or2)|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/collections/view?docId=ead/Mss.B.Or2-ead.xml}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Say|first=Thomas|date=1901|title=Letters of Thomas Say to John F. Melsheimer, 1816–1825.|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/79388#page/263/mode/1up|journal=Entomological News, and Proceedings of the Entomological Section of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia|volume=12|pages=233–236}}</ref>

In 1819–20, he and Say joined a government-led expedition to the [[Rocky Mountains]] led by [[Stephen Harriman Long]], during which Peale made a large collection of drawings of natural objects and scenery.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Titian R. Peale|first=American Philosophical Society Library|title=Titian Ramsay Peale Sketches (Mss.B.P31.15d)|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/collections/view?docId=ead/Mss.B.P31.15d-ead.xml}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NEut40XzZscC&q=titian+ramsay+peale&pg=PP1|title=Looking Close and Seeing Far: Samuel Seymour, Titian Ramsay Peale, and the Art of the Long Expedition, 1818Ð1823|publisher=Penn State Press|isbn=978-0-271-04782-9|language=en}}</ref>

In the winter of 1824–25, Peale traveled to South Carolina and Florida to collect bird specimens for [[Charles Lucien Bonaparte]]'s forthcoming quasi-continuation of [[Alexander Wilson (ornithologist)|Alexander Wilson]]'s ''American Ornithology'' (1825–1833). In Florida, he boarded for a short time at the farm of Bonaparte's cousin, [[Prince Achille Murat|Achille Murat]], and returned to Philadelphia in April 1825.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Stroud|first=Patricia Tyson|title=The Emperor of Nature: Charles-Lucien Bonaparte and His World|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0812235463|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania}}</ref>

In 1831–32, Peale explored the [[Magdalena River]] valley in northern Colombia. According to a notice published by [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque|Constantine 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."<ref>{{Cite journal|editor-last=Rafinesque|editor-first=Constantine S.|date=1832|title=Scientific explorers in America and Africa|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/234877#page/36/mode/1up|journal=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.|volume=1|pages=26}}</ref>

Around 1832 Peale was one of the first naturalists to question the veracity of [[John James Audubon]]'s claim of discovering a new species of eagle.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Halley|first=Matthew R.|date=June 2020|title=Audubon's Bird of Washington: unravelling the fraud that launched The birds of America|journal=Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club|volume=140|issue=2|pages=110–141|doi=10.25226/bboc.v140i2.2020.a3|s2cid=219970340|issn=0007-1595|doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[File:Automeris io Titian Peale 1833.jpg|thumb|Titian Peale, ''[[Automeris io]]'' 1833]]
In 1833, he was elected as a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=1833&year-max=1833&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-04-08|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> From 1833 to 1836, Peale managed the Philadelphia Museum, which had been founded by his father [[Charles Willson Peale]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sellers|first=Charles Coleman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zp7rpturXQcC&q=Circular+of+the+Philadelphia+Museum:+Containing+Direction+for+the+Preservation+and+Preparation+of+Objects+of+Natural+History&pg=PA262|title=Mr. Peale's Museum: Charles Willson Peale and the First Popular Museum of Natural Science and Art|date=1980|publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|isbn=978-0-393-05700-3|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Titian Ramsey Peale's painting 'Kilauea', 1842.jpg|thumb|Titian Ramsay Peale, ''Kilauea'', 1842]]
In 1838, Peale boarded the [[USS Peacock (1813)|USS ''Peacock'']] and served as chief naturalist for the [[United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842|United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842)]] led by Lt. [[Charles Wilkes]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Adler|first=A.|date=May 1, 2011|title=From the Pacific to the Patent Office: The US Exploring Expedition and the origins of America's first national museum|url=https://academic.oup.com/jhc/article-abstract/23/1/49/628187/From-the-Pacific-to-the-Patent-Office-The-US|journal=Journal of the History of Collections|language=en|volume=23|issue=1|pages=49–74|doi=10.1093/jhc/fhq002|issn=0954-6650|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The other naturalists on the expedition were [[James Dwight Dana]] and [[Charles Pickering (naturalist)|Charles Pickering]]. As chief naturalist, he collected and preserved various specimens of natural history, many of which he packed and shipped back to Philadelphia. During the expedition, Wilkes named [[Peale Passage]] after Titian Peale.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/naturalists/peale01.htm|title=Florida Naturalists – Titian Ramsay Peale – Introduction|website=www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu|date=July 2, 2018|access-date=June 26, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Phillips |first= James W. |title= Washington State Place Names |url= https://archive.org/details/washingtonstatep00phil |url-access= registration |year= 1971 |publisher= University of Washington Press |isbn= 0-295-95158-3}}</ref>

In 1848, he was removed from the payroll of the scientific corps.<ref name=":2" /> In 1851, a fire at the [[Library 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.

=== Scientific collections ===
Peale was the second ornithologist known to collect a female [[Golden-winged warbler|golden-winged Warbler]] (''Vermivora chrysoptera''), and the first to illustrate it. [[Thomas Jefferson]] collected one in 1782.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Halley|first=Matthew R.|date=2018|title=Jefferson's Ornithology Reconsidered|url=https://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/2019-03/attachments/Halley.pdf|journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|volume=162|pages=231–258}}</ref> Peale shot his specimen in 1824 near [[Camden, New Jersey]], and his drawing was engraved by Alexander Lawson and published in Plate 1 of [[Charles Lucien Bonaparte|Bonaparte]]’s ''American Ornithology; or, the Natural History of Birds Inhabiting the United States, Not Given by Wilson'', vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Carey, 1825).<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bonaparte|first1=Charles Lucian|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/266952|title=American ornithology; or, The natural history of birds inhabiting the United States, not given by Wilson.|last2=Wilson|first2=Alexander|last3=Audubon|first3=John James|last4=Rider|first4=Alexander|last5=Peale|first5=Titian R.|last6=Lawson|first6=Alexander|date=1825|publisher=Carey, Lea & Carey|volume=v.1 (1825)|location=Philadelphia}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Foutch|first=Ellery E.|date=2018|title=Preserving the Perfect State: Titian Peale's Butterflies|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/victorianstudies.60.2.03|journal=Victorian Studies|volume=60|issue=2|pages=171–184|doi=10.2979/victorianstudies.60.2.03|jstor=10.2979/victorianstudies.60.2.03|s2cid=149633005|issn=0042-5222|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

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 the [[United States Mint]].<ref name="PH bio" />

=== Later years and death ===
Peale was employed at the [[United States Patent Office]] until 1873.<ref name="PH bio" /> He died on March 13, 1885, in Philadelphia,<ref name="PH bio">{{Cite web |title=Peale, Titian Ramsay (1799-1885) |url=http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.art.046 |access-date=2021-12-22 |website=Plains Humanities, University of Nebraska–Lincoln}}</ref> and was interred at [[Laurel Hill Cemetery]],<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6BGU_rbWNAEC&dq=Titian+Peale+%2522Laurel+Hill+Cemetery%2522&pg=PA96 |title=Guide to Laurel Hill Cemetery, Near Philadelphia, 1847 |date=1847 |publisher=C. Sherman, printer |pages=96}}</ref> Section 8, Lot 74, in an unmarked grave.

== Public collections ==
[[File:Titian Ramsay Peale 1799-1885.jpg|thumb|Titian Ramsay Peale, ''Self portrait'', ca. 1845, [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]], [[Smithsonian Institution]], possibly aided by [[Rembrandt Peale]]]]
* [[Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University]], [[Philadelphia]], holds Peale's butterfly and moth collections
* [[American Museum of Natural History]], New York City, holds Titian Ramsey Peale's unpublished manuscript of ''The Butterflies of North America''
* [[American Philosophical Society|American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia]]
* [[Amon Carter Museum of American Art]], [[Fort Worth, Texas]]
* [[Carnegie Museum of Natural History]], [[Pittsburgh]], holds additional specimens collected by Peale
* [[Detroit Institute of Arts]], [[Michigan]]
* [[Honolulu Museum of Art]], Hawaii
* [[Joslyn Art Museum]], [[Omaha, Nebraska]]
* [[Museum of Nebraska Art]], [[University of Nebraska–Lincoln]]
* [[National Museum of American History]], Photographic History Collection<ref>{{Cite web |title=Titian Ramsay Peale  |url=https://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=Peale%252C+Titian+Ramsay&fq=data_source:%2522National+Museum+of+American+History%2522 |access-date=2021-12-22 |website=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>
* [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]], Washington, D.C.
* [[United States National Agricultural Library]], [[Beltsville, Maryland|Beltsville, MD]], holds Peale's original manuscript, ''Drawings of American Insects; Showing Them in Their Several States, Together With Such Minute Insects as Require Investigation by Microscope.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nal.usda.gov/speccoll/collectionsguide/collection2.php?subject=Entomology|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100708034059/http://www.nal.usda.gov/speccoll/collectionsguide/collection2.php?subject=Entomology|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 8, 2010|title=National Agricultural Library – Home Page|last=Library|first=National Agricultural|website=www.nal.usda.gov|access-date=June 26, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]], [[Philadelphia]]
* [[Reading Public Museum]], [[Reading, Pennsylvania]]
* [[Westmoreland Museum of American Art]], [[Greensburg, Pennsylvania]]
* [[Yale University Art Gallery]], [[New Haven, Connecticut]], holds five of Peale's sketchbooks from the Stephen H. Long Expedition

== Published works ==
Peale, T. R. 1831. ''Circular of the Philadelphia Museum: Containing Direction for the Preservation and Preparation of Objects of Natural History.''

== Legacy ==
* Peale designed the reverse of the [[Gobrecht dollar]] minted from 1836 to 1839 and recycled for the obverse of the [[Flying Eagle cent]] of 1856–1858.
* In 1923, [[Peale Island]], one of the three islands surrounding the lagoon at [[Wake Island|Wake Atoll]], was named in Peale's honor by [[Alexander Wetmore]], lead scientist of the [[Tanager Expedition]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Captain Ross A. Dierdorff, U. S. Navy |date=April 1943 |title=Pioneer Party—Wake Island |url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1943/april/pioneer-party-wake-island}}</ref>
* In 1873 [[Robert Ridgway]] named the biggest subspecies of the [[peregrine falcon]]s, the [[Peale's falcon]], after him.

== See also ==
* [[European and American voyages of scientific exploration]]
* [[Samuel Seymour (artist)]] who was the landscape artist of [[Long's Expedition of 1820]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book
 | last       = Poesch
 | first      = Jessie Peale
 | year       = 1961
 | title      = Titian Ramsay Peale And His Journals of The Wilkes Expedition, 1799–1885
 | publisher  = American Philosophical Society
 | pages      =
 | url        = https://books.google.com/books?id=U-_wXwAACAAJ
 | isbn       = 9781258056551
}}
* {{cite encyclopedia| editor-last = Sterling| editor-first = Keir B.| encyclopedia = Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists| title = Peale, Titian Ramsay| year = 1997| publisher = Greenwood Press}}

== External links ==
{{Commons}}
* [http://clade.ansp.org/entomology/collections/peale/index.html The Historic Titian Peale Butterfly and Moth Collection at the Academy of Natural Sciences]
* [https://www.lindahall.org/titian-ramsay-peale/ Scientist of the Day-Titian Ramsay Peale] at [[Linda Hall Library]]

{{de Peyster family tree}}
{{Hawaiian Art}}
{{Charles Willson Peale}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peale, Titian}}
[[Category:1799 births]]
[[Category:1885 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American painters]]
[[Category:19th-century American male artists]]
[[Category:American male painters]]
[[Category:American entomologists]]
[[Category:19th-century American naturalists]]
[[Category:American ornithologists]]
[[Category:American photographers]]
[[Category:American scientific illustrators]]
[[Category:Volcano School painters]]
[[Category:Peale family|Titian]]
[[Category:Sibling artists]]
[[Category:De Peyster family]]
[[Category:American bird artists]]
[[Category:Hawaii artists]]
[[Category:People of the United States Exploring Expedition]]
[[Category:Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia)]]
[[Category:American coin designers]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]