Moses Williams, cutter of profiles
Title
Moses Williams, cutter of profiles
Description
Silhouette of Peale's Museum premier African American silhouettist, facing left. Williams wears his hair in a ponytail adorned with a bow at the end. A bow adorns his collar as well. Williams was enslaved by Charles Willson Peale following the manumission of his parents in 1786. After his manumission in 1804, Williams began work as a silhouettist in Peale's Museum., Probably by Moses Williams or possibly Raphaelle Peale., Title from manuscript note on recto., Manuscript note on verso: Moses Williams, the Cutter of Profiles. Peales Museum., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., See Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, " 'Moses Williams, Cutter of Profiles': Silhouettes and African American Identity in the Early Republic," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 49 (March 2005), particularly p. 36., See Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, "'Moses Williams, Cutter of Profiles,' Silhouettes and African American Identity in the Early Republic," in Portraits of a People. Picturing African Americans in the Nineteenth Century (Seattle & London: Addison Gallery of American Art in association with the University of Washington Press, 2006 ), pp. 45-55, 69., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of portraits., McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date
[ca. 1803]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Silhouette Collection [(3)5750.F.153b]
Rev. Richard Allen, founder of the American Methodist Episcopal Church, in the United States of America, 1779.
Title
Rev. Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in the United States of America, 1779
Description
Half-length portrait of the African American bishop, seated, and holding a book, possibly the Bible, in front of a curtain. He looks slightly to the left and points to an open page of the book with his right hand and clasps the upper edge of the other side of the book with his left hand. Allen is attired in a collared shirt, a vest, and a jacket. Allen was the first African American bishop as well as founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was born in Philadelphia and was enslaved by Benjamin Chew. He worked as a wood-cutter during his ordination. A full-length portrait of the white Quaker abolitionist and little person Benjamin Lay is on the verso. Lay is attired in a tricorn hat, a long shirt and jacket, britches, and boots. He holds a cane and book in his right hand., Manuscript note on border: "The curiosity of the portrait below is that it was made for the first Black Bishop in the UStates and perhaps the world! He is indeed a self created Bishop; nevertheless, as such he has now, in his 65 years, in 1824, probably created 100 ministers, by his ordination! He was born & bred in Philada. He was originally a slave of Benjn Chew's Esqre & learnd the trade of a Shoemaker; & like St. Paul, 'labored with his own hands,' while he ordained-", Title from item., Date form item., In John Fanning Watson's Extra-illustrated autograph manuscript of "Annals of Philadelphia", p. 276., Gift of John F Watson, June 1830., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date
1813
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Watson's Annals manuscript [Yi2 1069.F.276]
Revd. John Gloucester
Title
Revd. John Gloucester Late pastor of the First African Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia
Description
Half-length portrait of the first African American man ordained by the Presbyterian Church, seated and facing left, and with his right hand raised. Gloucester is attired in a shirt with a high neck collar, a vest, and a jacket. Contains decorative border with an inset of the Bible inscribed with the verse John I:29. Born and enslaved in Tennessee, Gloucester, initially a missionary, presided over the first African American Presbyterian church in the country., Title from item., See Lib. Company. Annual report, 1973, p. 43., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., McAllister Collection, gift, 1886. Accessioned 1973., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator
B. Tanner & W.R. Jones, engraver
Date
August 1st 1823
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department portrait prints - G [P.8911.430]