Robert Edge Pine (1730, London – November 18, 1788,Philadelphia) was an English portrait and historical painter, born in London. He was the son ofJohn Pine, the engraver and designer, and the uncle of the important watercolouristJohn Robert Cozens, son of his sister Charlotte. He spent the last four years of his life in America, living in Philadelphia.

He painted portraits, including ofGeorge II,David Garrick (in theNational Portrait Gallery, London),the 1st Duke of Northumberland, a series of scenes fromShakespeare, some of which afterward appeared inBoydell'sShakespeare, and historical compositions, includingLord Rodney Aboard the Formidable, which is now in the Town Hall ofKingston, Jamaica.

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,^[1] Hunter's sister,Dorothy Baillie,^[2] and Baillie's husband, Prof. Rev. James Baillie.^[3] Pine also painted a vibrant portrait of CaptainWilliam Baillie.^[4]

Pine held radical political opinions; he paintedJohn Wilkes, MP, during his imprisonment and political exile,^[5] and his unfashionable views likely led to his exclusion from the founding group of theRoyal 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 ofBenjamin Franklin, both of whom he painted.^[6][7]

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 inPhiladelphia, where his time was completely taken up with portraiture. Among his sitters wereGeneral Gates,Charles Carroll,Robert Morris,Walter Stewart,George Read,Thomas Stone, Mrs. Reid (Metropolitan Museum, New York),George Washington (1785),Martha Washington, and other members of the Washington family.^[8] The portrait of Washington was engraved forIrving'sLife of Washington, but it is weak in characterization. An historically interesting canvasCongress Voting Independence, now in the Historical Society, Philadelphia, was begun by Pine and finished byEdward Savage. In 1786, Pine was elected a member of theAmerican Philosophical Society.^[9] After Pine's death many of his pictures were collected in theColumbian Museum inBoston.

It is thought that Pine gave lessons toPrince Demah in London.

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  SirHenry Bridgeman and His Family Playing Music,Weston Park
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  The Young Sportsman, portrait of unknown subject, 1766, now in Sydney
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  Portrait ofMary Ball Washington in 1786
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  Portrait of GeneralWilliam Irvine
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  Portrait ofCatharine Macaulay, an English historian
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  The actorDavid Garrick

• Hart, "Congress Voting Independence",Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 29 (1905): 1-14.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Pine, Robert Edge".New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRobert Edge Pine.

• 40 artworks by or after Robert Edge Pine at theArt UK site

• 1730 births
• 1790 deaths
• 18th-century American male artists
• 18th-century English male artists
• American history painters
• American portrait painters
• English emigrants to the United States
• English male painters
• English portrait painters
• Members of the American Philosophical Society
• Painters from London
• Painters from Philadelphia

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