Robert Feke

Portrait of William Bowdoin, 1748

Robert Feke (ca. 1705 or 1707–1750) was an American portrait painter born in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. Little is known for certain about his life before 1741, which is the year he painted his first portrait, Family of Isaac Royall. Sixteen portraits in total are known to be by Feke, and an additional 50 are disputed to be by him. His paintings are known for their sobriety and uniformity, but also for their rich colours and accuracy.

Feke worked in Boston, painting wealthy merchants and landowners, from 1741 until 1750, when he disappeared. He is said to have died in Barbadoes in the West Indies.

Among Feke's chief influences was John Wollaston.

Works

• 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, about 1747-49, Oil on canvas 127 x 102, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Mary Channing (Mrs. John Channing), about 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
• Isaac Royall
• Edward Shippen, Portrait of Chief Justice, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
• Isaac Winslow, about 1748, Oil on canvas 127 x 102, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

References

• Biography at infoplease.com
•  "Feke, Robert". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.