Rembrandt Peale was born the second son and third surviving child of Charles Willson Peale in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He began to draw under the tutelage of his father. At age thirteen, the young Peale executed his first self-portrait. Four years later, he painted the last portrait of George Washington from life. This work marked the beginning of Peale’s career as a professional portraitist. He also painted neoclassical subjects on occasion with limited success. Peale’s oeuvre consists of over 600 paintings, making him one of the most prolific American artists of his time.

In Portrait of Helen Miller (Mrs. Charles G. McLean), Peale renders the sitter realistically, against an idealized, mountainous landscape. Dr. Charles McLean, a Presbyterian minister married Miss Miller in 1815, and the couple moved to Indianapolis, where they founded a girls’ school known as the McLean Seminary. This painting is one of a series by Rembrandt Peale depicting members of the Miller family, including Helen’s mother, father, and three sisters. All the sisters married Presbyterian ministers.

Miller, Lillian B. Rembrandt Peale 1778-1860: A Life in the Arts. Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1985.