Robert Feke
While Robert Feke was one of the first American-born portrait painters, to identify him as an American artist is complicated; like many colonial artists, he turned to European prints for poses, costumes, and settings. Raised in Oyster Bay, New York, Feke painted in New York City, Newport, Philadelphia, and Boston. His career in America seems to have ended abruptly—while some scholars believe he eventually traveled to Barbados, no record of his life there has ever been found.
What are today’s status symbols?
In her portrait by Feke, Mrs. Apthorp wears a dress with the sheen and rich color of copper. The view to her left reveals a lawn, a tree, and an expanse of sky, which provides a contrast to the tumble of blue drapery behind her. Feke worked to situate his sitter convincingly in the imaginary setting, and this idealized, decorative portrait was not an intimate glimpse of her personality or her life, but a symbol of her status in society.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd
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