She maintained a greenhouse at the Peale family home.[1]
The papers and diaries of Mary Jane Peale are located in the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, PA, and include both original diaries and correspondence as well as photocopies. The contents of the collection is material related to Rubens and Eliza Peale, and the Peale family.[2] Microfilm copies of this collection can be found in the Library of the Smithsonian Institution.[3]
She is credited with teaching her father to paint, after his retirement, and there is evidence that some of the works attributed to him (such as Wedding Cake, Wine, Almonds, and Raisins and Rubens Peale in His Studio) may have instead been collaborative creations between the two.[4] After Rubens died in 1865, Mary Jane finished the paintings he had been working on.[5]
In her obituary, the New York Times said, "For a number of years she made her home in this city, but for several years had resided in Schuylkill County, at her place, "Riverside," the home of her childhood, on whose walls hung many ancient paintings by members of her family and portraits of Revolutionary heroes painted by her grandfather."[6]
References
^Miller, Lillian B; Philadelphia Museum of Art; M.H. de Young Memorial Museum; Corcoran Gallery of Art (1996-01-01). The Peale family: creation of a legacy, 1770-1870. New York: Abbeville Press in association with the Trust for Museum Exhibitions and the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. ISBN0789202069. OCLC34473590.
^Miller, Lillian B; Philadelphia Museum of Art; M.H. de Young Memorial Museum; Corcoran Gallery of Art (1996-01-01). The Peale family: creation of a legacy, 1770-1870. New York: Abbeville Press in association with the Trust for Museum Exhibitions and the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. ISBN0789202069. OCLC34473590.
^Gerdts, William H; Burke, Russell E (1971-01-01). American still-life painting. New York: Praeger. OCLC206250.
^"MARY JANE PEALE DEAD.: She Was the Last of Family of Famous Portrait Painters". New York Times. November 23, 1902. ProQuest96178555.