Charles Sloan

Artist: Rembrandt Peale, oil on canvas

Charles Sloan was the son of a very prosperous and wealthy merchant, James Sloan, whose house was on the site of the present Courthouse on the Battle Monument Square. He was born on March 18, 1798.

There is very little information about Sloan’s early years, other than that he adopted medicine as his profession and became a doctor. He moved to New Orleans to study yellow fever which was raging in the country at that time. It is thought that Dr. Sloan answered the call of the Mayor of Baltimore to help find a cause and a cure, and went to New Orleans where the disease was at its height. Sadly, it also took his life at a very young age.

The most striking thing about Charles Sloan is the fact that his portrait was painted by Rembrandt Peale, the most distinguished of the early painters in our country. The portrait was probably painted around 1819 or 1820, just before Sloan left for New Orleans. It represents “a simple but strong manner the attractive face of a young physician, and is a portrait to be prized most highly.”

The portrait was given to the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland by Frank Frick in memory of his brother, Dr. Charles Frick, who was named after Charles Sloan.