Sometimes Stumbling on Something Unexpected is THE BEST!

I was wandering around the Metropolitan Museum of Art In NYC recently and ended up in the "Visible Storage" display. That's where I came across a portrait of General Lafayette done by Rembrandt Peale, son of the artist Charles Willson Peale. (Peale named several of his children - several of whom became skilled artists - after famous painters: Rembrandt Raphaelle, Sofonisba Anguissola, Rubens, Angelica Kauffman, and Titian.)

Rembrandt Peale painted this portrait of Lafayette during his Farewell Tour of 1824-5. Needless to say, as I have written a entire historical novel (A Buss from Lafayette) for young readers about this tour, I was delighted to stumble across this picture! I have been reading and writing about this man for the last twenty years, so this was like accidentally meeting an old friend!

Here is a better view of the picture.

                               

 Here is what the Met website has to say about this portrait:

Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834), is most vividly remembered for the role he played in the American Revolution. For his service, he was awarded membership in the Society of the Cincinnati. He returned to the United States in 1784, when he was honored by his former war associates and was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by Harvard University. An invitation from Congress and President James Monroe brought him to the United States again in 1824, and for more than a year his triumphal tour provoked public demonstrations such as no American hero had ever experienced. Peale's portrait was apparently painted from life in 1825 at the height of Lafayette's fame. The porthole format and piercing heroic gaze are hallmarks of Peale's style and appear as well in his many depictions of George Washington.