Scipio Moorhead

Phillis Wheatley, as illustrated by Scipio Moorhead in the frontispiece to her book Poems on Various Subjects.

Scipio Moorhead (active c. 1773) was an enslaved African-American artist who lived in Boston, Massachusetts. His only surviving work is a portrait of the African-American poet Phillis Wheatley. Moorhead gained recognition through Phillis Wheatley's inscription "To S. M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works", published in Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, 1773.

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.[1] Although a slave, Scipio Moorhead enjoyed the usual rights of free workers. It is possible that the copperplate engraving of Phillis Wheatley that adorns much of her published poetry is his creation.[2] 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.[3]

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References

  1. ↑ Appiah, Kwame A.; Gates Jr., Henry L. (1999). Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. U.S: Basic Civitas Books. p. 1332(?). ISBN 0-465-00071-1.
  2. ↑ Patton, Sharon F. (1998). Oxford History of Art: African- American Art. Oxford, New York: Oxford University press. p. 12. ISBN 0-19284213-7.
  3. ↑ Lewis, R.W.B. and Nacy (1999). American Characters. Yale University: Yale University. p. 380. ISBN 0-300-07895-1.


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