Figure i. — Coleman Sellers (1781-1834), 

 father of George Escol Sellers. Portrait by 

 Charles Willson Peale, 181 1. Photo courtesy 

 of Charles Coleman Sellers and Frick Art 

 Reference Library. 



George Escol Sellers 



George Escol Sellers was born in Philadelphia on November 26, 1808, the second 

 son of Coleman Sellers (1 781-1834) and Sophonisba Angusciola Peale Sellers 

 (1786-1859). 



One of his grandfathers was Nathan Sellers, widely known in the United States 

 and in England as a fine craftsman in the exacting art of making wire paper molds. 

 Paper molds and machinery and, later, the actual making of paper were to engage 

 much of George Escol's energy throughout his life. Coleman, his father, became 

 involved in the building of fire engines, and this, with the general machine works that 

 grew out of his various enterprises, provided training for George Escol over the whole 

 spectrum of the mechanic arts. 



His other grandfather was the renowned Philadelphia portrait painter and 

 museum builder Charles Willson Peale. The boy's mother, like her brothers Rem- 

 brandt and Rubens and Titian, was named for an artist — in her case a female 

 Italian portrait painter of the 16th century. George Escol was at home in the 

 museum, as he was in the workshop. When lectures were held in the Peale Museum, 

 the boy often assisted in preparing and cleaning up the apparatus used for demon- 

 strations. He was, in fact, at home wherever there was something interesting to be 



