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Major-General Anthony Wayne
James Peale (born Chestertown, MD 1749-died Philadelphia, PA 1831)
ca. 1795
- Medium
- watercolor on ivory
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- image (oval): 1 3/4 x 1 3/8 in. (4.5 x 3.4 cm)
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Mary Elizabeth Spencer
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Smithsonian Institution
About this work
“Mad Anthony” Wayne (1745-1796) was one of the most colorful figures of the American Revolution. His early training as a surveyor came in handy as he guided his troops during the Valley Forge campaign. Following the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Washington sent Wayne into South Carolina to chase the British out, after which he was promoted to major general. He returned home in 1783 and reentered the Pennsylvania legislature, where he had served until 1775. When Washington appointed him commander in chief of the United States Army, Wayne turned to fighting Indian tribes along the Great Lakes, finally achieving peace with the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 before retiring from military service. He chose to be depicted in this miniature in his uniform at the rank of major general, probably as he reentered the legislature.
