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Two famous and widely disseminated images of George Washington include depictions of enslaved men: Edward Savage’s The Washington Family and John Trumbull’s George Washington, both from the 1780s.
Why did these artists include the likeness of an unidentified enslaved man with a portrait of then President Washington? How would the white consumers who purchased prints of these paintings and the enslaved viewers who had access to them have felt looking at these images?
In this lecture, explore such paintings of enslaved individuals both supported and complicated racially contested meanings of freedom. You’ll also discover how early 20th-century viewers later inscribed new meanings onto these portraits.
Jennifer Van Horn is an assistant professor in the Department of Art History. She specializes in early American art and material culture.