Sarah Miriam Peale (born 1800; died 1885) Sarah Miriam Peale was a white woman who became a celebrated portraitist during the mid-1800s. Though many painting schools did not allow women, Peale was born into a dynasty of American painters, which enabled her to receive artistic training. She learned to paint in her father’s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, studio, which specialized in miniatures, or small-scale portraits. Peale was passionate about oil painting and at age 18, she came to Baltimore to paint with her cousin Rembrandt Peale (1778–1860), founder of Baltimore’s Peale Museum. Two years later, Sarah established a permanent studio in the city. Over the next 25 years, her clientele included mayors, senators, federal cabinet members, international ambassadors, and military generals. Peale chose not to marry and maintained a nationally successful painting career.