Robert Feke (c. 1705 – c. 1752) was an American portrait painter born in Oyster Bay, New York. According to art historian Richard Saunders, "Feke's impact on the development of Colonial painting was substantial, and his pictures set a new standard by which the work of the next generation of aspiring Colonial artists was judged." In total, about 60 paintings by Feke survive, twelve of which are signed and dated.
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Life and career
One of Robert Feke's grandmothers was Elizabeth Fones (Elizabeth Fones Winthrop Feake Hallett).
Little is known for certain about his life, particularly his early years. Only one work by Feke, a portrait of a child, is datable before 1741. In that year he moved to Boston, where he painted Isaac Royall and Family (1741), a group portrait which borrows its composition from John Smibert’s The Bermuda Group (1729). Feke's works also show the influence of John Wollaston.
From 1741 until 1750, Feke worked in Boston, Newport, Rhode Island, and Philadelphia, painting wealthy merchants and landowners. The latest record of his activities is August 26, 1751; suggestions by Feke's early biographers that he died in Barbados or Bermuda have not been substantiated.
Works
Benjamin Franklin, Portrait (c. 1746) at the Fogg Museum, Harvard University Portrait Collection
Charles Apthorp, Portrait 1748, oil on canvas, Cleveland Museum of Art American
Grizzell Eastwick Apthorp, Portrait (Mrs. Charles Apthorp) (1748) at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Mrs. John Banister, 1748, oil on canvas, The Detroit Institute of Arts
William Bowdoin
John Channing, c. 1747–49, oil on canvas 127 x 102, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Mary Channing (Mrs. John Channing), c. 1747–49, oil on canvas 127 x 102, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Tench Francis, Sr., Portrait at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Captain Alexander Graydon, c. 1746, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art American Museum of Fine Arts
Thomas Hopkinson, Portrait at the Smithsonian Institution
Ralph Inman
Susannah Speakman Inman
Hannah Speakman Rowe
Isaac Royall and Family, Portrait, 1741, Historical & Special Collections, Harvard Law School Library
Edward Shippen, Portrait of Chief Justice, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Isaac Winslow, c. 1748, Oil on canvas 127 x 102, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston