Raphaelle Peale was born in Annapolis, Maryland in 1774. He was the eldest son of Charles Willson Peale, under whom he first studied in Philadelphia. He was the first of Peale's children to survive infancy. In the early 1790s, he helped his father run the Peale Museum in Philadelphia. In 1796 he attempted, together with his brother Rembrandt, to organize a portrait gallery, which apparently failed, for in 1799 he had settled in Philadelphia as a miniature painter.

He spent the major part of his life in Philadelphia. Raphaelle was the tragic figure in the Peale household. Full of impish humor and artistic genius, he was never able to earn a living from his art. In the absence of comm...