Thomas Wakeman

This watercolor is a depiction of Charles Willson Peale’s Philadelphia Museum, which was founded in July 1786, at its final location on 9th street below Chestnut, with an entrance on George Street. It displayed not only works of art, but its saloons (both main saloons and lower level saloons) were used for all sorts of meetings (i.e. the Temperance Society—not surprising since the founder Charles Willson Peale abstained) and musical and dramatic performances.  Sotheby's would like to gratefully acknowledge Alexandra Kirtley, The Montgomery-Garvan Curator of American Decorative Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art for this information.