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, Hunter's sister, Dorothy Baillie, and Baillie's husband, Prof. Rev. James Baillie. Pine also painted a vibrant portrait of the Captain William Baillie.

Pine held radical political opinions; he painted John Wilkes, MP, during his imprisonment and political exile, 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.

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. 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. After Pine's death many of his pictures were collected in the Columbian Museum in Boston.

Images

Image:Congress voting independence.jpg, '' Congress Voting Independence''
Image:Mary Ball Washington(Pine).jpg, Portrait of Mary Ball Washington in 1786.
Image:General William Irvine.jpg, Portrait of General William Irvine
Image:Catharine Macaulay (née Sawbridge) by Robert Edge Pine.jpg, Portrait of Catharine Macaulay, an English historian.
Image:David Garrick by Robert Edge Pine.jpg, The actor David Garrick
Image:Robert Edge Pine - Portrait of George Washington (1785) - Google Art Project.jpg, Portrait of George Washington

References

* Hart, "Congress Voting Independence," ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 29 (1905): 1-14.
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External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pine, Robert Edge
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
18th-century American male artists
American male painters
English portrait painters
American portrait painters
American history painters
Members of the American Philosophical Society
18th-century English male artists