The Artist in His Museum - Philadelphia, PA - Philatelic Photographs on Waymarking.com

Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts was the first art museum and school in the United States. Among those artists who have received training at PAFA are such notables as Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, Louis Kahn, Henry Ossawa Tanner, John Sloane, Alexander Calder and David Lynch (yes, that David Lynch, of Twin Peaks fame). Also, numerous illustrators can be counted among PAFA’s alumni, among them are A. B. Frost, Edwin Austin Abbey, Maxfield Parrish and Jessie Willcox Smith.

Charles Willson Peale, the prominent Philadelphia artist who was responsible for many portraits of the Founding Fathers, was one of the founders of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Oddly enough, the museum pictured in the painting (and on the stamp) is not the Penn Academy museum but rather Peale’s museum of natural curiosities which at that time was housed on the second floor of Independence Hall. In it Peale displayed his collection of stuffed birds and animals including an enormous mammoth skeleton that he had excavated in upstate New York. (Part of this skeleton can be seen in the painting and on the stamp.)

Today, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts consists of several buildings in downtown Philadelphia, the most notable of which is the Furness-Hewitt building, designed by George Hewitt and PAFA alumnus, Frank Furness. Besides the school, the museum houses a significant collection of American art, including many by Charles Willson Peale such as his famous portrait of George Washington at Princeton and this painting entitled ‘The Artist in His Museum.’

Stamp Issuing Country: United States Date of Issue: 15-Jan-1955 Denomination: 3c Color: rose brown Stamp Type: Single Stamp Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
To post a visit log for this category, you must visit the actual site of the waymark. Post at least one photo that you personally took of the site if at all possible. If you cannot provide a photo for some reason, your visit will still be welcome.

You do NOT need to be a stamp collector to visit the waymark site, nor do you have to provide a photo of the stamp. Just having a copy of the stamp in question, however, is not sufficient; you must personally visit the site.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.