Artist Signatures

John Hesselius

John Hesselius (1728 - 1778) was active/lived in Maryland.  John Hesselius is known for Portrait often full figure.

Born to a Swedish family, John Hesselius became one of the leading portrait painters in the Mid-Atlantic colonies. He is noted as one of the earliest teacher of Charles Willson Peale, who later became one of America's best-known colonial artists and whom Hesselius met at Annapolis in the early 1760s.

He first studied with his father, Gustavus Hesselius, a painter of portraits and religious subjects, but it is not thought that his father had much influence on his style.

The family lived in Philadelphia where he saw the work of portraitist Robert Feke, and this exposure became an ongoing influence as did the painting of John Wollaston, which he saw later in his career when Wollaston was working in the Colonies.

"Charles Calvert", owned by the Baltimore Museum of Art, is his most famous portrait and depicts a five-year old child, attended by black slaves, and posed as a general of military troops. Nearly 100 portraits survive, and it is thought that he also painted   ...  [Displaying 1000 of 1742 characters.]  Artist bio

Artist auction records

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Similar artists

.  There are 1 similar (related) artists for John Hesselius available:    Charles Willson Peale