Francis Scott Key

Born Frederick County, Maryland

This painting was made when Francis Scott Key and the artist Rembrandt Peale were both in their late teens. Key would go on to become a prominent Georgetown lawyer. On September 13, 1814, when the War of 1812 (1812–15) was entering its third year, Key traveled to Baltimore to try to negotiate the release of a hostage. That night, he watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry. The next morning, when he saw the fort’s American flag still flying, he wrote a poem that was first published as “Defence of Fort M’Henry” and set to a popular British tune. His song was subsequently renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

During Key’s lifetime, abolitionists noted the irony of a song about “the land of the free” written by a staunch advocate of slavery with narrow views of freedom. More than a century later, in 1931, Congress adopted it as the national anthem.

Nacido en Frederick County, Maryland

Esta pintura se realizó cuando Francis Scott Key y el artista Rembrandt Peale eran aún adolescentes. El primero llegó a ser un prominente abogado en Georgetown. El 13 de septiembre de 1814, cuando la Guerra de 1812 (1812–15) entraba en su tercer año, Key viajó a Baltimore para negociar la libertad de un rehén. Esa noche fue testigo del bombardeo del Fuerte McHenry. A la mañana siguiente, al ver que la bandera estadounidense aún ondeaba, escribió un poema publicado inicialmente como “Defensa del Fuerte M’Henry” y adaptado a una tonada popular inglesa. Luego recibiría el título de “La bandera estrellada”.

En vida de Key, los abolicionistas no pasaron por alto la ironía de que un acérrimo defensor de la esclavitud, con una visión estrecha de la libertad, hubiera escrito una canción a “la tierra de los libres”. Pasado más de un siglo, en 1931, el Congreso la adoptó como himno nacional.

The sitter; Mary Alicia Lloyd Nevins Key Pendleton, his daughter, Jane Francis Pendleton Brice (Mrs. Arthur Tilghman Brice, d. 1950), her daughter; Colonel Arthur Tilghman Brice II, 1892-1973, her son; Alice Key Pendleton Brice Joline (Mrs. John Forsyth Joline, Jr., d. 1983), his sister; Laurence Turnbull Joline, her son; Dorothy Doe Joline, Long Island, New York, his wife and the present owner