Focus on Portrait of Phillis Wheatley and explore the Description.
The painting depicts a young African American woman, Phillis Wheatley, sitting at a desk. She has a thoughtful look on her face, with her left hand poised against her chin, as if thinking about what she will write next with the quill in right hand. Her right hand sits atop a piece of paper. On the desk, is also ink and a small book. She wears a bonnet and an apron over her dress.The pose which Wheatley makes as she hovers her pen over the paper is reminiscent of the works of John Singleton Copley, who was commissioned to make portraits for many famous Bostonians of the time, and whose works were widely exhibited and shown throughout the city. However, Copley never portrayed a woman in the act of writing. In fact, this portrait appears to be the first portrayal of a woman writing in American history.
apron Phillis Wheatley left African American quill John Singleton Copley