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The portrait of Delaware native Gunning Bedford, Continental Congress member and the Diamond State's delegate to the Constitutional Convention, was given to the Capitol in 1872. Artist Charles Willson Peale depicts a portly gentleman, leaning casually, with his gaze directed past the viewer. Peale is best-known for his Revolutionary War era portraits, with subjects including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. He was also a central figure in the development of museums and arts institutions in the United States. Peale was a founder of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the proprietor of the first museum in the United States.
History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, “Gunning Bedford, Jr.,” https://history.house.gov/Collection/Listing/2005/2005-020-000/ (June 25, 2022)
Office of the Historian
Office of Art and Archives
Attic, Thomas Jefferson Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 226-1300
