Phillis Wheatley Negro Servant to John Wheatley of Boston MDCCLXXIII

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CultureAmerican

Titles

Phillis Wheatley Negro Servant to John Wheatley of Boston MDCCLXXIII

Datec. 1875–1925

Possible placeBoston, Massachusetts, United States

MediumSilk fiber with gouache, ink, and thread

DimensionsImage: 15 5/8 × 12 1/4 in. (39.7 × 31.1 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Nancy B. Negley in memory of Jack McGregor

Object numberB.2005.13

Not on view

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

TEXTILES

DescriptionBorn in West Africa and sold into slavery at a young age, Phillis Wheatley became the first African American woman author of a published book of poetry. Published in London, her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral featured 39 poems, as well as a portrait of Wheatley by the African American artist Scipio Morehead, to whom she dedicated a poem. Though she wrote little about her own life in the poems, she did pen a personal piece titled, “On being brought from Africa.” Following the book’s publication, she was emancipated, and her prodigious talent was recognized on both sides of the Atlantic. The unknown artist, of this needlework with hand painting, copied Moreland’s portrait of Wheatley.
ProvenanceNancy Brown Negley; given to MFAH, 2005.
Exhibition History"Exhibited As We Are: Fighting Racism with Art in the Age of Slavery,” Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Bayou Bend, April 29–August 16, 2015.

"Radicals and Revolutionaries: America's Founding Fathers," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 10–May 28, 2018.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Inscribed around the oval image: PHILLIS WHEATLEY NEGRO SERVANT to Mr. JOHN WHEATLEY of BOSTON. / MDCCLXXIII.

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