Background
Moses Williams was born in 1777 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Scarborough and Lucy Peale, who were slaves in the home of renowned artist and Museum-owner Charles Willson Peale.
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Moses Williams
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lieutenant is believed that William"s parents began to work for Peale sometime between 1769 and 1775. Although Williams" parents were freed, the law mandated that eleven-year-old Moses remain in Peale"s service until his twenty-seventh birthday and so Williams grew up in the Peale household among Peale"s many artistic children, including Rembrandt Peale, Raphaelle Peale, Franklin Peale and Titian Ramsay Peale. Growing up in the household of artist Charles Willson Peale, Williams was instructed in skills that would help him to work at Peale"s Museum, including taxidermy, object display, and silhouette-making.
As a slave, he was not taught the "higher art" of painting.
After showing skill at silhouette-making, Williams was given a physionotrace machine to make silhouettes and he continued to work at Peale"s Museum as a freed man and a professional silhouettist, making black and white paper silhouettes for visitors of the Museum. Williams made over 8,000 silhouettes during his first year working at Peale"s Museum.
He earned between 6 and 8 cents for every silhouette that he cut. With the money that Williams earned making silhouettes, Williams was able to buy his own home and to marry.
Williams" silhouettes can be found in a number of institutions, including:
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Library Company of Philadelphia.
