Gustavus Hesselius (1682 - 1755 )

Gustavus Hesselius came from Sweden to the United States in 1711. Hesselius is considered America's earliest portrait painter of note. He settled in Delaware at first and lived there from 1717 to 1721. After that he moved, first to Philadelphia and then to Maryland, to become a portrait painter. Hesselius received the first recorded public art commission in the American Colonies in 1721 when he painted The Last Supper for St. Barnabas Church in Prince George's County, Maryland.

Hesselius moved back to Philadelphia where he lived the remainder of his life, occasionally making visits to New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. In addition to painting, he built an organ for the Moravian Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1746. He thereafter devoted a large amount of his time to organ building, sending most of his painting commissions to his son John after 1750.

Hesselius was trained in Sweden as a wood-engraver and painter. He was one of the first European-trained painters to settle permanently in America. He introduced a greater technical skill that increased realism in Colonial painting. His atmospheric and painterly style, which was derived from European Baroque painting, conflicted with the more linear style then prominent in America.

Hesselius was the leading painter of the Middle Colonies during most of his art career. His son John also became a portrait painter known for his insistence on using American backgrounds for his American subjects. John Hesselius lived in Philadelphia at first, then moved to Annapolis with his wealthy wife after 1763.

(Brian Wagner, Spring 2006)

Portrait of Tishcohan, Leni-Lenape Chief

Tishcohan, or He Who Never Blackens Himself, c.1837-1844, hand-colored lithograph. Photograph courtesy of The Philadelphia Print Shop, Ltd. (see link below).

Lapowinsa, or Gathering Provisions, c.1837-1844, hand-colored lithograph. Photograph courtesy of The Philadelphia Print Shop, Ltd. (see link below).

Among the most important of Gustavus Hesselius's New Jersey images are his portraits of Leni-Lenape chiefs. Hesselius painted the original portraits from which Thomas L. McKenney and James Hall created the lithographic prints above. The original paintings are now owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The lithographic process, which was invented by Alois Senefelder in Bohemia in 1798, allows the printing of multiple copies of an image. Lithography involves the use of a smooth piece of limestone (hence the name "lithography," as "lithos" is the ancient Greek word for stone). After an artist draws an image onto the stone itself using an oil-based medium, acid is used to burn the image onto the surface. Gum arabic, a water soluble solution, is then applied, which sticks only to the non-oily surface and seals it. During printing, water adheres to the gum arabic surfaces and avoids the oily parts, while the oily ink used for printing does the opposite (Wikipedia).

A lithographic process of color printing was invented shortly after the invention of lithography, but in the case of Hesselius's Leni-Lenape prints, the colors were added by hand.

The Leni-Lenape Indians had never been defeated militarily by the Dutch or the Swedes. When settling in the area, William Penn didn't plan on fighting the Lenape; instead, he decided to make a treaty with them to secure their friendship and obtain their land. Penn signed the treaty at the village of Shackamaxon, but some believe his successors burned the document so they could do as they pleased in their dealings with the Leni-Lenape. Penn had traveled to England to deal with his own business issues when he had a stroke in 1712. The heirs to his colony weren't as lenient with the Indians as Penn was; eventually this ended their friendship with the neighboring Leni-Lenape (Virginia.edu).

(B.W.)

References:

Canaday, John. The lives of the Painters in 4 volumes. New York, 1969.

Maryland Art Source, 2002, http://www.marylandartsource.org/artists/detail_000000072.html

Art Fact, http://www.artfact.com/features/viewArtist.cfm?aID=7#bio

Lithographic process, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithograph#The_early_process

Penn and the Indians, http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/PENN/pnind.html

See also Kenneth A. Lockridge, "Overcoming Nausea: The Brothers Hesselius and the American Mystery," available online at:

(http://www.common-place.org/vol-04/no-02/lockridge/lockridge-5.shtml(