Artist/Maker

Polk, Charles Peale

Place Made

Date Made

1800-1810

Medium

wood, glass, paint, gold leaf

Dimensions

DIA: (frame) 4 5/8″; (image) 3 3/8″

Accession Number

4451

Description

DESCRIPTION: A verre-eglomise silhouette profile of a gentleman facing right. The features of the subject are etched through the gold leaf and enhanced by hatching and cross hatching. The molded interior of the frame is gilded while the exterior of the frame is painted black.

History

LABEL NOTES: In the verre-eglomise process, gold leaf was adhered to glass with a water size and allowed to dry. The artist then used a sharp instrument to etch through the gold leaf to define the profile and features of the subject. The interior of the exposed back of the profile was then painted; when the paint was dry, the remaining gold leaf was gently washed away and the background was painted black.

Polk may have learned the verre-eglomise process while living in Baltimore as the process was used by some Baltimore cabinetmakers to enhance furniture. However, the only known advertisement for the profiles appeared in the RICHMOND ENQUIRER on June 3, 1806:
A New and Elegant Style of taking PROFILE LIKENESSES, Engraved in Gold [in italics], and framed for 3 dollars each. Specimens may be seen at the Eagle Tavern, by applying to C.P. POLK, who has just arrived in this city, and respectfully offers his professional services to the public.

The exact identity of the sitter for this profile has been lost, but he may have been a Virginian. According to Linda Crocker Simmons, the provenance of the painting links it with a Tennessee family with ancestral ties to Virginia.

Artist Biography

ARTIST: The second child of Elizabeth Digby Peale and Robert Polk, Charles Peale Polk (1767-1822) was named for his uncle, Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827). Polk lived in Annapolis until about 1773, when his mother died. Two years later, when his father became a sailor, Charles went to live with his uncle, first in Baltimore, then in Philadelphia and Bucks County, Philadelphia. Following the Revolution, Polk studied painting in earnest, copying his uncle’s works and helping with the larger paintings. Apparently he was not successful in obtaining commissions of his own in Philadelphia or during a 1785 trip to Alexandria and Baltimore. He was more successful after 1792 when he moved his family to Baltimore. The following year he opened a school for young ladies, but advertised “should Gentlemen be desirous of learning, hours will be appointed for them also.”
Polk’s financial situation fluctuated, and in addition to painting he attempted a number of business ventures. Polk was married twice, first to Ruth Ellison of New Jersey, who died in 1810. The family moved to Frederick County, Maryland in 1796 and again to Richmond County, Virginia. Throughout this period, Polk painted several members of a few families, suggesting that his commissions came through personal recommendations. Despite the number of portraits, he became known as much for his religious and political activities. Of the two obituaries that appeared after his 1822 death neither mentions his life as an artist.

Credit Line

MESDA Purchase Fund