Rembrandt Peale, Rubens Peale with a Geranium

Rembrandt Peale, Rubens Peale with a Geranium, 1801, oil on canvas, 71.4 x 61 cm (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. )
A conversation between Dr. Bryan Zygmont and Dr. Steven Zucker

[@carlberg7503]

Masterful blending of intellectual history and art analysis. Thanks!

[@marcydrake9159]

Fascinating analysis. The echo of his two fingers reaching into the soil and the two flower buds reaching into his hair are details I would have missed, and now that’s my favorite part of this piece. 😍 It’s almost like a portrait of a loving couple.

[@bensabelhaus7288]

The eyeglasses part got me. I' m more of an ethnobotanist than, but I completely relate to literally removing my glasses so I can see the fine structure and detail to identify plants. You get very personal in tactile terms there. The colors, smells, feel is just heightened. Not sure if it's just poor vision or a mix of my autism too, but you really get to know a plant like that. At least until you consume it next :)

[@IbisLucidus-hc8mr]

Such an excel painting and analysis! I love how Peale captured the lens’s play of light on his brother’s cheek. That’s an almost scientific level of detail and interest in the act of observation.

[@smarthistory-art-history]

The play of light and shadow from the pair of glasses that he wears renews my love of painting every time I see it.

[@bryanzygmont]

The dazzling depiction of light from the glasses always makes me think of the glass of water in Copley's Boy with a Squirrel. Crazy good.

[@nowvoyager81]

Brilliant analysis. The observation of the fingers in the soil and the fingers in the hair is blowing my mind. 🤯 🪴

[@ChristopherBonis]

I remember studying the Peales in my American art history class at university. Fascinating family. Alas, we never examined this lovely painting. Thanks for sharing!

[@mihiec]

That's an amazing painting! Brilliant conversation about it

[@nikolay9814]

A great video again! Thank you.

[@sherryzimmerman9220]

I Love Geraniums…this is an example of The Best Of Social Media!

[@CKnox-wm6ge]

Love this painting, thanks

[@BorselinoThadchack]

Always great videos

[@Sasha0927]

Rubens was stupid cute - I'm just gonna get that out of the way, lol. I tend to go for the dark, curly hair with light(er) eyes on a bespectacled dork, so that immediately got my attention. 🥰 Beyond that, this was such a fascinating and talented family. I'll trade a series on them and their lives for the series about pop-culture families available to me now... It was a little sad to think about. I do love this (double) portrait, though. The composition does feel like the majority of the geranium's leaves are in line with Ruben's face so they can be appreciated together. And I loved the detail about the head/soil interaction between them. When the canvas was zoomed in on, I was able to appreciate its texture and that made me wonder how this would change if it were painted on a smoother surface. Or how it was enhanced by being painted on this one. I'm sure Peale was knowledgeable enough to consider that in his artistic process.

[@smarthistory-art-history]

My type too :)

[@Sasha0927]

@@smarthistory-art-history You know what it is, lol. 😎👉👉

[@bryanzygmont]

I would trade in a few years of good health to have that hair!

[@bryanzygmont]

By the by, I could 100% get behind some prestige television on the Peale family. Heck, with the Peales you could get several seasons. I'd love to see a recreation of Washington tipping his cap to the Staircase Group!

[@MADMACwashere]

Lovely

[@jrgrimm6091]

May favorite part is the caustic effect on his cheeks from his eyeglasses

[@camaramarcelo]

❤

[@Nolanthegardener]

It looks just like me

[@oltedders]

Calling the depiction of Reubens' geranium a portrait is quite a stretch.

[@smarthistory-art-history]

It is, but I suspect the brothers recognized it as such and had a good laugh. Just as we did in the gallery recording this.

[@bryanzygmont]

I"m going to happily defend the word portrait! :) If a portrait of a person is an individualized depiction of a particular person (that is a painting of Bob, and not just A Man), then I think this is a portrait of That Geranium and not A Geranium.

[@oltedders]

@@bryanzygmont My takeaway was the factoid of the geranium being a rare African species at the time the portrait was painted. The painting of Reubens must have had quite an exotic aura for the 1801 viewer.

[@bryanzygmont]

@@oltedders OF this there can be no doubt!