Edward Savage (November 26, 1761 – July 6, 1817)[1] was an American portrait painter and engraver.
He was born inPrinceton, Massachusetts, and at first worked as a goldsmith, also practicing engraving. Although seemingly untrained in painting, he came into prominence in 1790 through his portrait ofGeorge Washington, intended as a gift toHarvard University. In 1791 he visitedLondon, where he studied for a time underBenjamin West, and then went to Italy. Upon his return to the United States in 1794, he practiced inPhiladelphia andNew York City, maintaining for several years a picture gallery and art museum on Water Street in New York.
Robert Edge Pine began the first representation ofCongress Voting Independence (Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection, Atwater Kent Museum, Philadelphia) in 1784, but it was unfinished at his death. Savage completed the painting in 1801, and mass-produced the image as a mezzotint. Its portraits ofAnthony Wayne,Benjamin Rush, andThomas Jefferson are highly esteemed. Savage is principally known, however, for a large portrait group,The Washington Family (begun 1789, completed 1796), portraying PresidentGeorge Washington, First LadyMartha Washington, two of her grandchildren,George Washington Parke Custis andEleanor Parke Custis, and an enslaved servant, probablyChristopher Sheels. The painting was in the collection formed byWilliam F. Havemeyer, New York, until bought byAndrew Mellon and donated to theNational Gallery of Art,Washington, DC. He died in Princeton.
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