Focus on this artwork and explain the History.
Phillis Wheatley failed to have her book published in the United States; therefore, she had her book published in London. To verify that she was indeed, African American, the publisher asked that she provide a portrait for the work, which was engraved for the frontispiece. Another, poorer quality, engraving was made for a Boston area almanac in 1781, possibly based on the frontispiece. The fate of the original is unknown, and it is reported that in later years, Wheatley's mistress possessed only the engraving, which was "said to have been a striking representation of the original."It is believed by some modern scholars that Wheatley commissioned the African American artist Scipio Moorhead to create the portrait. She knew of Moorhead because he was the slave of Reverend John Moorhead in Boston, where she used to live, and wrote a poem in honor of him and his work. Additionally, the painting's unusual depiction of a black woman writing has no parallel among the white artists contemporary to the period. However, despite the fact that 19th-century abolitionists were interested in Wheatley and gathered information and anecdotes about her and other Boston area slaves, there are no sources from the 18th or 19th century that attest to the identity of the artist.
Scipio Moorhead Phillis Wheatley frontispiece African American slave