I thought everyone knew about the "Great Philadelphia Founding Father Model Riots" of 1786, in which a group of incensed Founding Fathers, let mainly by Button Gwinnet, converged on Charles Wilson Peale's and attempted to string him up for painting nude models.
What really got the crowd ticked was that he didn't paint nudes, he literally painted the nude models (leading to his invention of the Paint By Numbers kids several years later, by the way).
Given the nature of the times, everyone required their art to look as if it crap marble and spontaneously sing high Italian Opera, not look like some proto 1960 hippy reject.
Fortunately Mr. Peale was able to escape the mob and went to Italy, where he eventually fathered four sons -- Ruben, Rembrant, Raphaelle, and Titian -- which further incensed the mob... "You're an American! Name your kids after Americans!" one mobite was heard to yell, just moments before he was identified as John Singleton Copley and torn limb from limb...
