PHILADELPHIA, PENN. -- In 1768, John Cadwalader -- prominent Philadelphia businessman, civic leader and supporter of the arts -- married Elizabeth Lloyd, daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the colonies. As they prepared to remodel and furnish a town house on Second Street, the couple had all the money needed to "buy the best" and the good fortune to be surrounded by excellent artists and craftsmen who could provide the quality they desired. Their selection of Charles Willson Peale for a large commission of five family portraits provided the link between the major painting exhibition, "The Peale Family: Creation of an American Legacy, 1770-1870," on view through January 5, and "The Cadwalader Family: Art and Style in Early Philadelphia," both organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Jack L. Lindsey, curator of American Decorative Arts at the museum, explains the Cadwaladers' motivations: "In Philadelphia during this period, the whole idea of family dynasty was an important one -- politically, economically and socially. One of the ways you could demonstrate your membership in a dynasty was to construct, fit out and entertain in an amazing house. If you go down the `Who's Who' in Philadelphia in that period, all of them are building these great, stylistically updated Rococo townhouses during the late 1760s to the early 1770s. Most of these families had been established in the city for three or four generations and had this mind set of `Look at us, look at the dynasty we have established."

For the exhibition, the large collection of Cadwalader material owned by and on extended loan to Philadelphia (permanently displayed in the Powel drawing room) was supplemented by additional material from other sources, then published in a double issue of the museum's Bulletin. Curator of American painting Darrel Sewell has contributed a chapter on "Charles Willson Peale's Portraits of the Cadwalader Family" while Lindsey writes on the history of the family and their furnishings during the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Century.

Although the Cadwalader house on Second Street was demolished around 1816, its memory lives on through the extensive documentation surrounding its remodeling in the 1770s and the survival of original furnishings. Lindsey continues, "The great thing is that the whole body of material is so incredibly complete, in terms of correspondence, day-book documentation, receipts and inventories, all of that. One reason that the Cadwalader suite of furniture from their Second Street house has survived with such notoriety is because it's one of the few extant suites of furniture that has all its documentation in place. There were probably similarly ornate and extensive suites of furniture that were produced for other Philadelphians during the time period that haven't survived or are presently unrecognized because all the documentation is scattered."

The bill submitted to John Cadwalader by Philadelphia cabinetmaker Thomas Affleck, now with other family papers in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, mentions numerous items, including "2 Mahogany Commode Sophias for the Recesses," and easy chair en suite with another large sofa, card tables, fire screens, and a harpsichord frame. The total cost for the furniture was 119 pounds 8s., with an additional 61 pounds 4s. for ornamental carving by James Reynolds and the partnership of Nicholas Bernard and Martin Jugiez. The surviving pieces, including a pair of card tables and the famous easy chair, are considered among the highest expressions of American Rococo style.

Unfortunately, the young Cadwaladers did not long enjoy these superb expressions of Eighteenth Century good taste. Elizabeth passed away in 1776, soon after the birth of their third child. John remarried in 1779, had two more surviving children, but died in 1786. In a final chapter, Jack Lindsey takes up the story of John's son Thomas and his sons, Judge John Cadwalader and George Cadwalader. Thomas was a friend of Joseph Bonaparte, who lived near Philadelphia at Point Breeze on the Delaware River. Included in the exhibition is a special gift to Thomas from Joseph, an Attic red-figure vase excavated on the Bonapartes' Italian estates.

Lindsey adds in conclusion, "When Joseph Bonaparte leaves Philadelphia for the last time, he gives a lot of his most ornate French thing to Thomas Cadwalader and hence to George, and they both set up stylistically-advanced town houses in the current French taste. So the pattern was set by John in the Eighteenth Century and carried on by the son and grandson. This exhibition is the first time that any of this later material has been documented and drawn together."

The show continues in Philadelphia through February 2, but will not travel. The Bulletin volume, The Cadwalader Family: Art and Style in Early Philadelphia, can be ordered from the museum bookstore at 215-684-7960 for $10.