|
Although unsigned, Clarke family papers claim that this portrait
was painted by Rembrandt Peale; an attribution consistent with
its style. The painting descended in the Clarke family until
1982, when it was given to the High Museum in Atlanta by Mrs.
Francis Pickens Bacon.
The High Museum de-accessioned the piece in 2004, when it
was sold at Sotheby's to benefit acquisition funds. While in
the possession of the High Museum, the portrait of General Clarke
was placed on loan to the Art in Embassies Program, where it
hung in the residence of Ambassador and Mrs. Gordon D. Giffin
in Ottawa, Canada in the late 1990's.
Rembrandt Peale was the most prominent of the six children
of Charles Wilson Peale, all of who became well-known artists.
Like his renowned father, Rembrandt painted portraits, was one
of the founders of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,
and was interested in natural history. He also opened the first
Peale museum in Baltimore, along with his older brother, Raphaelle.
By 1795, at the age of 17, Rembrandt had painted President George
Washington from life. Throughout his career he sought to produce
the most fitting image of Washington; in the 1840's & '50's
he produced over seventy replicas of his idealized portrait of
the hero. Born in Bucks County, PA while his father was in Valley
Forge serving with General Washington, Rembrandt worked in several
east coast cities, including Charleston and Savannah, and traveled
to Europe five times during his long and prolific life, most
of which was spent in Philadelphia.
Elijah Clarke was the most celebrated Georgia hero of the
Revolutionary War, participating in both sieges of Augusta, and
fighting with Andrew Pickens and "Light Horse Harry"
Lee during the final battle of the city in 1781, which is perhaps
depicted by the distant flames in the right background of the
portrait. He also fought at the battles of Alligator Creek, Kettle
Creek, Musgrove's Mill, Blackstocks, and Beattie's Mill, to name
a few. Clarke became Brigadier General of Militia in 1786, and
Major General of the Third Division of the Georgia state militia
in 1792.
After the war, he served in the Georgia state assembly from
1781-1790 and acted as Georgia's commissioner of treaties with
Native Americans. For his war service, he was granted a plantation
in Wilkes County, GA.
In 1794, impatient with the failures of national and state
governments to bring peace to the frontier, Clarke took matters
into his own hands, and attempted to form an independent state
in western Florida, the short-lived Transoconee Republic. Nevertheless,
he retained his hero status in Georgia until his death in 1799.
The portrait is in superb condition and in a period frame, under
glass. |
