John Hesselius: his life and work
Date
1963
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
John Hesselius (1728-1778) was one of the major American-born artists working in the Middle Colonies and the South in the third quarter of the eighteenth century. The son of Gustavus Hesselius, a Swedish painter who came to America in 1711, John was probably born in Philadelphia. ☐ Although it is not known when he first began to paint, his earliest known signed work appeared in 1750. He seems to have been active until at least 1777, for another signed work dated that year is known. Between those two dates he traveled quite extensively in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and, possibly, New Jersey. Apparently his work was confined to portraits. All known examples are in oil on canvas, and there is little reason to suspect that he deviated from this practice. He worked exclusively in the late English Baroque and English Rococo traditions of painting, and his style shows the influence of Robert Feke and John Wollaston more strongly than that of his father. ☐ He married in 1763, and after that date his energies were divided between his art and the management of his plantation near Annapolis. He was active as well in the religious affairs of St. Anne's Parish in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. His interests appear to have been many, and as an artist and landowner he associated with most of the leading citizens of the colony. ☐ This study is treated in four major divisions: (1) The biography of John Hesselius; (2) Hesselius as a man; (3) An analysis of his style; (4) Special problems in attribution. A catalogue of the known signed paintings follows the text. Also, lists of attributed paintings appended to the work have been formulated, on the basis of style, as being probably by him, possibly by him, or probably not by him. ☐ Whether or not John Hesselius can be considered a great painter by modern standards, he was certainly a successful artist in his own time. Because he extended and modified the English tradition of painting in the Colonies--because he was influenced by certain artists and doubtless influenced others in turn -- because his works are, today, still confused with virtually every portrait painter of his time, he is an important figure in Colonial American art of the third quarter of the eighteenth century.