SAMUEL CHEW
John Hesselius (1728 - 1778)
1762
Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Oil on canvas
HOA: 38 3/4", WOA: 32 1/2"
Gift of Mr. G. Wilson Douglas, Jr. (acc. 2661)
The son of Swedish-born limner Gustavus Hesselius, John Hesselius married an Annapolitan heiress and settled in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Trained by his father in Philadelphia, John became a prolific portrait painter, working primarily in northern Virginia and Maryland. In its original carved and gilt frame, this portrait depicts Hesselius’s neighbor, the wealthy young planter Samuel Chew (1737 - 1790).
