Robert Edge Pine
Robert Edge Pine (1730, London – November 18, 1788, Philadelphia) was an English portrait and historical painter, born in London. He was the son of John Pine, the engraver and designer.
He painted portraits, such as those of George II, of the Duke of Northumberland, and of Garrick (in the National Portrait Gallery); a series of scenes from Shakespeare, some of which afterward appeared in Boydell's Shakespeare; and historical compositions, including Lord Rodney Aboard the Formidable (Town Hall, Kingston, Jamaica). It is thought that Pine gave lessons to Prince Demah in London.
Pine was active in the society of artists and learned gentlemen in London, in particular the circle of the anatomist, William Hunter. Pine painted Hunter,[1] Hunter's sister, ,[2] and Baillie's husband, Prof. Rev. .[3] Pine also painted a vibrant portrait of the Captain William Baillie.[4]
Pine held radical political opinions; he painted John Wilkes, MP, during his imprisonment and political exile,[5] and his unfashionable views likely led to his exclusion from the founding group of the Royal Academy of Art in 1768. Nevertheless, Pine did exhibit at the Royal Academy in 1772, 1780, and 1784. Pine's views led him to friendships with others in England sympathetic to the cause of the American Revolution, such as the merchant, Samuel Vaughan, a friend of Benjamin Franklin, both of whom he painted.[6][7]
Around 1784, Pine travelled to America, taking with him an exhibition of a series of paintings depicting scenes and characters from William Shakespeare's plays and settled in Philadelphia, where his time was completely taken up with portraiture. Among his sitters were General Gates, Charles Carroll, Robert Morris, George Read, Thomas Stone, Mrs. Reid (Metropolitan Museum, New York), George Washington (1785), Martha Washington, and other members of the Washington family.[8] The portrait of Washington was engraved for Irving's Life of Washington, but it is weak in characterization. An historically interesting canvas Congress Voting Independence, now in the Historical Society, Philadelphia, was begun by Pine and finished by Edward Savage. In 1786, Pine was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society.[9] After Pine's death many of his pictures were collected in the Columbian Museum in Boston.
Images[]
Portrait of Mary Ball Washington in 1786.
Portrait of General William Irvine
Portrait of Catharine Macaulay, an English historian.
The actor David Garrick
Portrait of George Washington
References[]
- ^ "William Hunter (1718–1783) | Art UK".
- ^ "Dorothea Baillie, Sister of William and John Hunter | Art UK".
- ^ "Reverend James Baillie (1723–1778) | Art UK".
- ^ "Captain William Baillie" by Robert Edge Pine, showing a head and shoulders portrait of a soldier with a black hat and red jacket with silver and gold braiding".
- ^ "Portrait of John Wilkes MP".
- ^ "Robert Edge Pine | British painter".
- ^ "Artist Info".
- ^ "William and Mary College quarterly historical magazine". 1894.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2020-12-19.
- Hart, "Congress Voting Independence," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 29 (1905): 1-14.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. Missing or empty
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External links[]
- 40 artworks by or after Robert Edge Pine at the Art UK site
- Painters from London
- 18th-century English painters
- English male painters
- 1730 births
- 1790 deaths
- English emigrants to the United States
- Artists from Philadelphia
- 18th-century American painters
- American male painters
- English portrait painters
- American portrait painters
- American history painters
- Members of the American Philosophical Society