Story Behind Painting Reveals Historic First

Experts have unraveled the background of a portrait currently on display at the Baltimore Museum of Art—and they say it is likely the first work commissioned by a formerly enslaved American. James Johnston writes in the Washington Post that the painting is of Mary Ann Tritt Cassell, a woman of mixed race, and is attributed to artist James Alexander Simpson. Cassell likely sat for the portrait for her wedding in 1839, and it's believed that her mother, Henrietta Steptoe, commissioned the work. Steptoe was born a slave in 1779 in Virginia but freed in the early 1800s. (Click the Post link or one at Hyperallergic to see the painting.)

"Mary Ann was this very talented woman," Johnston told Hyperallergic. "Her mother broke out of slavery and her daughter got an education. She went off to Africa. She taught a school and ran a hospital in one generation from slavery." According to Hyperallergic, the portrait was wrapped in plastic, sitting in a Florida apartment just a year ago. But when the painting's owner, Dorita Sewell, saw Johnston lecture about Simpson's work, something clicked. "I thought, 'Gee, maybe he could tell me something about my painting." Though Simpson did not sign the painting, the museum confirmed it was his work based on the work's style and brushstrokes, as well as its age. Simpson was one of the only commercial painters working out of Georgetown during this period.

The search for who sat in the painting landed on Cassell, a distant relative of Sewell, as it was passed down through the family. In fact, a document in Cassell's sister's 1877 last will and testament included a bequest of "my sister's picture" to her granddaughter. Johnston writes that the history behind this painting is what makes it invaluable, even if it doesn't have great artistic merit. "The faces and stories of so many of the enslaved and their children have been lost. Mary Ann's were among them—but now, at last, they are found." Sewell plans to visit the painting while it's on display in Baltimore. "I think it's wonderful that we can all enjoy it and learn from it." (Also in the world of art: There's an unusual black market for Taco Bell store art.)