As a member of America's first artistic dynasty, Anna Claypoole Peale played a critically important role in the burgeoning cultural life of early-19th-century Philadelphia. Her uncle, Charles Willson Peale, was a noted painter and scientist; her father, James Peale, was a successful painter; and many of her siblings and cousins-both female and male-were also professional artists.

Peale was born in Philadelphia, where she spent most of her adult life, although she also lived and worked in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Boston, and New York City. Trained by her father, Peale sold her first two paintings when she was only 14. While she also produced still lifes, landscapes, and full-size oil portraits, from the age of 23 Peale specialized in portrait miniatures, for which there was a lucrative market. She quickly became popular with a succession of prominent sitters, including two American presidents, an ambassador, and several U.S. senators, plus major writers and scientists.

Founded in Philadelphia in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts began holding its prestigious annual exhibitions five years later. Peale had work in this inaugural exhibition and continued showing there regularly. In 1824 she and her sister Sarah Miriam became the first women to be elected members of the Pennsylvania Academy. Anna married the Reverend William Staughton in 1829; he died just three months later. In 1841 she wed General William Duncan; they spent nearly a quarter century together until his death in 1864. In addition to her own busy career, the prolific Anna Claypoole Peale also trained another miniaturist, her niece, Mary Jane Simes.