On view
Head of a Man,
18th–19th century
formerly attributed to John Singleton Copley, 1738–1815; born Boston, MA; died London, England
This portrait raises several unanswered questions. The sitter’s identity and status remain unknown, despite his individualized facial features. He may be of African descent, but it also has been suggested that he could be South Asian. His uniform has comparisons in eighteenth-century British painting, and his collar is similar to ones that enslaved people were forced to wear. The painting was cut down from a larger composition and attached to a new canvas, suggesting that it may have been a larger portrait of this man or a portrait of him with a white individual, following a common convention for representations of enslaved people and servants. Research into both the artist and the sitter’s identity is ongoing, but the challenges in answering these questions speak to the difficulties of excavating identities of people of color in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European art.
Comparative image: Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792; born Plympton, United Kingdom; died London, United Kingdom), Charles Stanhope, Third Earl of Harrington and Marcus Richard Fitzroy Thomas, 1782. Oil on canvas, 236.2 x 142.2 cm. Yale Center for British Art,
New Haven, CT
Information
18th–19th century
formerly attributed to John Singleton Copley, 1738–1815; born Boston, MA; died London, England
