Artist Museums

Gustavus Hesselius

Gustavus Hesselius (1682 - 1755) was active/lived in Pennsylvania.  Gustavus Hesselius is known for Portrait, religious, Indian figure.

A portrait painter who came from Sweden, Gustavus Hesselius was highly prominent in the Middle Colonies and in Philadelphia, where he was one of the first professional portraitists. He was also unique in that unlike most portrait painters of that era, he also did other subjects including religious, narrative and classical themes as well as coach and other decorative work.

His painting technique is not considered particularly strong by some art historians, but is valued as historically important because it included Indian Chiefs Tishcohan and Lapowinsa, paintings now in the Pennsylvania Historical Society. These portraits are some of the earliest likenesses of American Indians and were completed for John Penn to commemorate the signing of a treaty. Hesselius was also the first painter to introduce in America the late baroque style, popular in Europe, but it was not especially well received in the Colonies. An example is "Bacchanalian Revel", an orgiastic scene of the feast to Ba   ...  [Displaying 1000 of 2190 characters.]  Artist bio

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