Edward Savage, the portrait painter and engraver, was born in Princeton, Massachusetts, November 26, 1761.
He was the second child of Seth and Lydia (Craige) Savage and grandson of Edward Savage who came to Massachusetts in 1696 from Ireland, whither his father, Abraham Sauvage, had been driven from St. Algis, Picardy in France, by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Savage is said to have been originally a goldsmith, a trade that has graduated not a few engravers. He could not, however, have followed it for any great length of time, as he was only twenty-eight when he left Massachusetts for New York, with a letter to Gen. Washington from the president of Harvard requesting him to sit for his portrait for the University.
The portrait for Harvard was begun in New York, December 21, 1789, and finished January 6, 1790, as we learn from Washington's diary: although it seems not to have been delivered to Harvard until the end of the following year.
" This is the first knowledge we have of Savage as an artist and we are in profound ignorance of what preparation he had to essay so important a commission. That he had some experience, and perhaps instruction, goes without saying, for even though his portrait of Washington is not the best art, yet it could not have been painted by an absolutely inexperienced tyro."
In 1791, Savage went to London where he is said to have studied under Benjamin West, and it is inferred that he visited Italy, from the inscription on the whole-length portrait of Columbus, engraved by Edwin and published by Savage, at Philadelphia in 18oo, which states that the portrait of Columbus is copied from the original picture, by E. Savage, in the collection of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, at Florence.
While in London he learned to engrave in stipple and mezzotint, as his portrait of General Knox was published in that city in 1791, his Harvard Washington in 1792, and in 1793, his well-known portrait of Washington seated at a table, upon which are a cocked hat and a plan of the city of Washington.
In 1794 Savage returned to the United States and was married at Boston, on October 13, 1794, to Sarah Seaver. Soon after this, he removed to Philadelphia, where his brother, John Savage, was located in business. In 1795 he exhibited the first panorama ever seen in that city, and he apparently remained in Philadelphia publishing prints at intervals until 18oi, when his name disappears from the Philadelphia directory, where he was down as "Historical Painter." He then seemingly went to New York and from there to Massachusetts, as his fifth child was born in New York in 1802 and his sixth child in Princeton in 1805.
There are no completed engravings by Savage after his leaving Philadelphia bearing a later date or issued from another place, but the copper-plate of the picture of "The Congress Voting Independence" was doubtless his latest work and left unfinished at his death. This interesting plate belongs to the Massachusetts Historical Society.
During the early part of the century Savage became interested in a museum in Boston, called the New York Museum, part painting gallery and part museum, which was opened in Boylston Hall in 1812. In July, 1818, the New England Museum was opened at 76 Court Street by Ethan A. Greenwood. It was commenced with the collection of curiosities, paintings, etc., owned by Edward Savage, recently deceased.
This property consisted of the paintings of Washington and his family, Columbus, Liberty, and seventy other paintings, besides a large collection of curiosities, birds, insects, fishes, etc., the whole valued at $6543.
The New Haven, The Boston, The Market, and the Columbian Museums and the Museum of the Linnean Society were successively purchased and added to this establishment, together with various collections from other sources. Mr. Greenwood sold his collection to Mr. Moses Kimball and the better part of the property or that which was worth saving formed the nucleus of the Boston Museum of later time.
In addition to the Museum venture Savage invested in the Poignand and Plant Cotton factory in Lancaster, Mass., built in 1809, one of the earliest of its kind successfully run in America. The president was David Poignand described as "A dapper, urbane gentleman of French Huguenot descent." His partner was his son-in-law, Samuel Plant, an Englishman who had been in America about twenty years as agent for a great cloth manufacturer of Leeds. They had also two able assistants, Capt. Thomas W. Lyon, an ingenious machinist, and Edward Savage the silent partner who helped furnish the necessary capital.
It would seem, however, that these outside enterprises did not interfere wholly with the work of Savage as an artist, for Rev. George Allen of Worcester in reminiscences of his Yale college life 1809-13, says "at New Haven I became acquainted with Savage the Princeton artist and portrait painter. He remained some time at my boarding place and as my room had the best light, he made use of it to copy a portrait of Roger Sherman. I found him an agreeable person."
Mr. Hart's article describes Edward Savage as "a man of medium height, inclined to stoutness, quick in his movements, with brown hair and blue-gray eyes. Saint Memin drew and engraved a fine profile portrait of him, which shows a strong head with a keen eye."
The Goodspeed Collection of Savage Prints, now in the possession of the Worcester Art Museum, contains a nearly complete series of his engravings of Washington and his family, most of which are after paintings by Savage himself. It also includes three good miniature portraits on ivory painted by his own hand, one of himself and one of his wife, painted before their marriage, and one of Edward Seaver, a brother of Mrs. Savage.
