Peale, Sarah Miriam (1800–1885)

American painter. Name variations: known as Sally. Born Sarah Miriam Peale, May 19, 1800, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; died in Philadelphia, Feb 4, 1885; 3rd dau. of James Peale (1749–1831, painter) and Mary Claypoole Peale (1753–1829); sister of Margaretta Angelica Peale (1795–1882) and Anna Claypoole Peale (1791–1878); never married; no children.

Painter of canvas portraits and still lifes (ranging in size from 8 × 10 to 17 × 22, both in rectangles and ovals), who widened the opportunities for American women as professional artists; the most successful of the 3 sisters, rendered earliest known work, self-portrait Portrait of a Lady (1818); exhibited annually at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1824–31); elected a member of that institution (1824); moved to Baltimore (1825); in competition with more noted artists, such as Thomas Sully, executed some 100 portraits during the Baltimore years, including that of Marquis de Lafayette; made portraits of prominent statesmen in Washington, DC (1841–43), many of them closely associated with President John Tyler's administration, including Daniel Webster and other Cabinet members and various senators and congressional representatives; lived in St. Louis as a painter of portraits and still lifes (1847–78); returned to Philadelphia (1877); other portraits include Mrs. Theodore Denny, Sarah Jane Armstrong, John Montgomery, and Mrs. George Henry Keerl (1826–35), Edward Johnson Cole, Anthony Thompson, Mrs. George Michael Krebs, Children of Commodore John Daniel Danels and William Hollingsworth (1824–36), Henry A. Wise (1842), Thomas Hart Benton (1842); still life paintings include Still Life: Watermelon and Grapes (1820), Peaches, Plums & Grapes, A Slice of Watermelon (1825), and Still Life (1880).

See also Wilbur H. Hunter and John Mahey, Miss Sarah Miriam Peale, 1800–1885: Portraits and Still Life (1967); Charles H. Elam, The Peale Family: Three Generations of American Artists (Wayne State U. Press, 1967); and Women in World History.