Scipio Moorhead (active c. 1773-after 1775) was an enslaved

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

who lived in Boston, Massachusetts. Moorhead is known through the contemporary African-American poet

Phillis Wheatley Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly ( – December 5, 1784) was an American author who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Gates, Henry Louis, ''Trials of Phillis Wheatley: Ameri ...

's poem, dedicated "To S. M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works", published in ''

Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral ''Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, in New England'' (published 1 September 1773) is a collection of 39 poems written by Phillis Wheatley, the first professional Afri ...

'', 1773. His full name was learned from period

marginalia Marginalia (or apostils) are marks made in the margins of a book or other document. They may be scribbles, comments, glosses (annotations), critiques, doodles, drolleries, or illuminations. Biblical manuscripts Biblical manuscripts have ...

. Moorhead was a slave of the Reverend John Moorhead of Boston, Massachusetts. His talents for drawing were tutored by the reverend's wife Sarah Moorhead, who was an art teacher. Although a slave, Scipio Moorhead enjoyed many of the rights of free workers. No original work by Scipio has survived, but he may be the person referred to the a ''Boston News-Letter'' advertisement on January 7, 1773, which spoke of a "negro artist... A negro of extraordinary genius." It is possible that the copperplate engraving of Phillis Wheatley that adorns much of her published poetry is his creation. In the 19th century Wheatley's fame was revived by Massachusetts

abolitionists Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...

and many stories about her were recovered through oral history, but Moorhead was never mentioned, so the attribution to him is uncertain; it was first publicly suggested by the Wheatley scholar William H. Robinson in 1984. However, it has been recognized that the portrait is extremely unusual. It resembles contemporary portraits by the famous Bostonian painter

John Singleton Copley John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was probably born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Anglo-Irish. Afte ...

, but unlike any of Copley's work, it portrays a woman writing a poem and deep in thought. The novelty of the portrait was recognized and imitated by Bostonian printers when it was engraved for an edition of Wheatley's poetry in 1773, but the artist's name was never mentioned.Slauter, Eric. Looking for Scipio Moorhead : an "African painter" in revolutionary North America in p. 89-116 It is the first frontispiece depicting a woman writer in American history, and possibly the first ever portrait of an American woman in the act of writing. Scipio was auctioned in January 1775 as part of an

estate sale An estate sale or estate liquidation is a sale or auction to dispose of a substantial portion of the materials owned by a person who is recently deceased or who must dispose of their personal property to facilitate a move. Reasons for an estate ...

. The advertised location of the slave auction, near the Liberty Tree, was deplored by the 19th century abolition movement. In the 1780s slaves in Massachusetts successfully sued for freedom which led to a general abolition, but it is unknown if Scipio was ever freed, as his buyer was unrecorded and no record of his whereabouts after 1775 has been located.

References

1700s births 18th-century American slaves 18th-century American painters 18th-century American male artists Year of death unknown African-American painters {{AfricanAmerican-stub

See also

References