Charles Wilson Peale Maryland Mason and Revolutionary Patriot

"Born in 1741 in Chestertown, Maryland, studied under the famous artist Benjamin West in England, perhaps becoming exposed there to other Masons who were forming opposition to their colonial status. Returning to Annapolis in 1774, he began his career as a portrait painter but then volunteered for service in the Revolutionary War, serving as a Captain in the Battle of Trenton and Germantown before being elected to the Maryland State Legislature. As America's most accomplished formal portraitist, he was much in demand by the celebrities of that period and managed 14 sittings with George Washington, who was well known for limiting such imposition on his time. He painted many other famous Freemasons, including Hancock, Von Steuben, Franklin, Randolph, Jackson, and Clay." (Harrington, George F.).