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Primary sourcePainting1825

The Marquis de Lafayette

Rembrandt Peale · 1825

An oval portrait of Lafayette painted by Rembrandt Peale during Lafayette's 1824–25 American tour.

This portrait of Lafayette was painted from life during his celebrated 1824–25 tour of the United States.

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Oval portrait of a middle-aged man with curly dark hair, wearing a dark high-collared coat and white cravat, against a pale cracked background, set within a brown painted frame border.
Rembrandt Peale, The Marquis de Lafayette, 1825. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

About this source

What it is

This is an oval painted portrait of Lafayette made in 1825 by the American artist Rembrandt Peale. It is held today by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Why it matters

Lafayette's 1824–25 tour of the United States produced a flood of American portraits as artists rushed to capture the aging hero of the Revolutionary War. Peale's painting is part of that wave, showing how Americans wanted a lasting image of the French general who had fought alongside them decades earlier.

Look closer

  • What does the formal pose and clothing suggest about how Lafayette wanted to be remembered?
  • Why might so many artists have wanted to paint Lafayette during this particular visit?
  • What does the cracked, aged background tell you about the painting's history?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Marquis de Lafayette on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Painted allegory of the 1789 French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. A title plaque reads 'Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen' above two tablets of text. A seated woman with chains and a standing winged figure with a wand flank the plaque, under a radiant eye in a triangle.Document

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Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

National Constituent Assembly · 1789

Scan of a handwritten two-column manuscript on aged, browned paper. The left column is in English under the heading 'Treaty of Alliance', and the right column is in French under 'Traité d'alliance eventuelle et défensive'. The text opens by naming the Most Christian King and the United States of North America.Document

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Treaty of Alliance with France

6 February 1778

Engraving of a man's head and shoulders in a high-collared coat and cravat, above a handwritten manuscript certificate signed by Lafayette dated November 21, 1784, attesting to James's service as a spy.Document

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Certificate for James Armistead Lafayette

Marquis de Lafayette · 21 November 1784

Document

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Lafayette's Oath of Allegiance

Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette · 9 June 1778

Handwritten manuscript page numbered 80, dated April 1788 at top, in cursive ink on ruled paper. Text discusses constitutional ratification, amendments, and a Bill of Rights and trial by jury. Bound volume edge visible on left.Letter

Primary source

Letter from George Washington to Lafayette, 28 April 1788

George Washington · 28 April 1788

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