Gustavus Hesselius: America’s Earliest Portraitist Born in Folkärna, Sweden, in 1682, Gustavus Hesselius embarked on a remarkable journey that ultimately led him to become one of the earliest and most significant portrait painters in colonial America. His life story is intertwined with threads of Swedish heritage, religious connections, and an unexpected embrace of a new world – a narrative painted across canvases rich with detail and imbued with a quiet dignity. Initially trained in Europe, Hesselius arrived in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1711, accompanied by his brother, bringing with him a E…