Phillis Wheatley, Negro servant to Mr. John Wheatley of Boston
Item
Artist
Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller
Title
Phillis Wheatley, Negro servant to Mr. John Wheatley of Boston
Medium
plaster
Dimensions
20 x 16 x 1 cm
Accession Number
JWJ MSS 138 (Art)
Description
Oval toned plaster plaque reproducing in low relief an engraved portrait of African American poet Phillis Wheatley used as the frontispiece of Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (London: Printed for A. Bell, bookseller, Aldgate; and sold by Messrs. Cox and Berry, King-Street, Boston, 1773). The engraving was made after a portrait attributed to African American slave and artist Scipio Moorhead. As in the engraving, the words "Phillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley of Boston" appear around the perimeter of the plaque. It is not signed or dated; the attribution to Meta Warrick Fuller was made by Grace Nail Johnson, sister-in-law of the donor.
Location
James Weldon Johnson Collection in the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.