Pocahontas

Object Details

Artist

Unidentified Artist

Copy after

Simon van de Passe, 1595 - 1647

Sitter

Pocahontas, c. 1595 - Mar 1617

Exhibition Label

Pocahontas (also known as Matoaka) grew up in coastal Virginia among a confederacy of Algonquian-speaking Powhatan people overseen by her father, the paramount chief. After John Smith and other representatives of the Virginia Company of London established a settlement at Jamestown, she sometimes served as an intermediary. In 1613, however, the colonists kidnapped and ransomed her for corn, guns, and prisoners. While in captivity, Pocahontas was converted to Christianity, took the baptismal name Rebecca, and married the tobacco farmer John Rolfe. Their son, Thomas, was born in 1615. Eager to publicize Pocahontas’s apparent assimilation as a means of attracting investors, the Virginia Company transported her to England, where she arrived in June 1616.

This engraving was created in England for the Bazilioologia: A Booke of Kings (1618), a collection of British monarchs and notables, and depicts Pocahontas as an affluent Englishwoman. Inscriptions proclaim her elite lineage, Christian religion, and marital status (confusing her son’s name with her husband’s). Pocahontas took ill and died nine months after arriving in England. Over the next 400 years, her brief life would inspire many fanciful legends, including a fictitious romance with John Smith.

Provenance

Peter Elwin [1718-1798], Booton Hall, Norfolk, England; by descent to Fountain Peter Elwin in 1900; purchased by Francis Burton Harrison 1926; bought by Andrew W. Mellon 1932; transferred to The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust; gift to NGA 1942; transferred 1965 to NPG.

Credit Line

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift of the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, 1942

after 1616

Object number

NPG.65.61

Restrictions & Rights

CC0

Type

Painting

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

Stretcher: 77.5 x 64.8 x 2.5cm (30 1/2 x 25 1/2 x 1")

Frame: 92.7 x 80 x 6.4cm (36 1/2 x 31 1/2 x 2 1/2")

See more items in

National Portrait Gallery Collection

National Portrait Gallery

Topic

Costume\Jewelry\Earring

Costume\Dress Accessory\Fan

Pocahontas: Female

Pocahontas: Native American\Cultural intermediary

Portrait

Record ID

npg_NPG.65.61

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm47b045769-55c0-4291-b4cd-648a495c13ce