Paintings

The collection of paintings in the state's art collection includes masterworks by such artists as Charles Willson Peale, Rembrandt Peale, Thomas Sully, Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer, George Bellows, Edwin White and Childe Hassam. Contemporary portraits by Maryland artists Simmie Knox, Joseph Sheppard and the Egeli family(Bjorn, Carolyn, Cedric, Lisa and Peter) also enhance the collection.

Among the most renowned paintings are Charles Willson Peale's monumental portraits of Washington, Lafayette, and Tilghman at Yorktown, William Pitt and William Paca, Thomas Sully's Charles Carroll of Carrollton, and Mary Cassatt's Young Woman in Black (Portrait of Madame J).

The collection is particularly rich in portraiture of Maryland governors, legislators, and first ladies and many of these paintings are displayed in the Maryland State House and the Annapolis legislative complex. Landscapes of Maryland scenes by Hugh Bolton Jones and Francis Guy, as well as historical paintings by Francis Blackwell Mayer, complete the state-owned art collection.

The Commission collects the official portraits of elected state officials, a tradition that started in the eighteenth century and continues into the twenty-first century.