La Salle Oddity: Portraits

By Mark Costello
Collegian Editor
April 26, 2006

On the second floor of the Union Building there is a series of portraits that stare into the depths of the human soul. So outrageously real are they that it is thought that, perhaps, wayward students—poor lost souls who have trodden away from the path of Lasallian values—are encapsulated within those paper-and-ink reproductions of the paintings of the Peale family, whose estate La Salle was founded upon.

McGee looks strikingly like James Peale's painting of Ann Emily Rush.
Photo taken by Jen Colletta.

A true La Salle Oddity, no? Soul-stealing portraits. You might scoff, ladies and gentlemen who read this missive, but we have undeniable proof of the soul-stealing capabilities of the Peale portraits.

Take the sad case of Megan Colleen McGee, an Honors Program sophomore and member of the Masque. Could this capricious cad who cavorts caringly upon the stage, in truth, have had her very essence pilfered?

A quick trip to the second floor of the Union, across from the Music Room, says yes. James Peale’s painting of Ann Emily Rush must have been mislabeled because, without a doubt, it is the visage of McGee that shines forth.

We asked McGee if she had noticed any other uncanny representations of her in art from any museums or what have you, and she told the Collegian that the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art (PAFA) houses a portrait that resembles her, but not to the degree of the soul trap in question. Outside of PAFA, McGee knows of no other portrait that even comes close to representing her.

Quiver in terror, oh readers of the Collegian, for you might be next to fall prey to the vicious cycle of Peale soul theft. All right, you actually have nothing at all to fear—but doesn’t McGee really look like that Peale painting?

costellom4@lasalle.edu