Francis Rabineau

Francis Rabineau was a colorful character, accused of fast living and bigamy, and fond of fancy clothes. Artist William Dunlap described Rabineau’s appearance, remarking on his “scarlet coat with mother-of-pearl buttons---a white silk waistcoat embroidered with colored flowers.” Rabineau arrived in Boston in 1775, on the eve of the Revolution, but left for Canada when hostilities broke out. His fame widened two years later when he returned to British-occupied New York, painting Loyalists and British officers at the same time that Charles Willson Peale was painting miniatures for members of George Washington’s Continental army.