Phillis Wheatley, Negro servant to Mr. John Wheatley of Boston
Item
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Artist
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Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller
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Title
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Phillis Wheatley, Negro servant to Mr. John Wheatley of Boston
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Medium
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plaster
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Dimensions
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20 x 16 x 1 cm
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Accession Number
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JWJ MSS 138 (Art)
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Description
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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.
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Location
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James Weldon Johnson Collection in the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
