Elie Williams

Charles Willson Peale

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Peale executed this vivid portrait during a period of incessant experimentation with his paints. The artist, who was seeking stronger colors and bolder contrasts, realized those aims here, especially in the robust flesh tints and the fashionable costume. The change in palette as well as the direct gaze of his subject increased the realism of the work. The Philadelphia Windsor chair, with its green paint worn down to the grain, is convincingly rendered. Williams (1750–1822) was a quartermaster in the Maryland militia when he sat for Peale.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art