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Portrait of William Duguid

1773
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 755
Duguid, a Scottish immigrant and textile importer based in Boston, is the subject of this portrait. In 1773 he sat for Prince Demah, a painter of African descent who was enslaved by the merchant Henry Barnes. Impressed with his artistic talent, Barnes took the young man to London for some brief training. Demah’s story is extraordinary—he is the only enslaved portraitist working in colonial America whose paintings are known to have survived. When the Loyalist Barnes family fled to England in 1775, the artist remained in Boston, identifying himself as "Prince Demah, limner" and a "free Negro." He enlisted in the Massachusetts militia in 1777 to fight against the British, but died of an unknown illness the following year.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Portrait of William Duguid
  • Artist: Prince Demah Barnes (American, ca. 1745–1778)
  • Date: 1773
  • Geography: Made in Boston, Massachusetts, United States
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: Canvas: 20 3/4 × 15 3/4 × 1 1/8 in. (52.7 × 40 × 2.9 cm)
    Framed: 22 1/2 × 17 1/2 × 1 1/2 in. (57.2 × 44.5 × 3.8 cm)
  • Credit Line: Friends of the American Wing Fund, 2010
  • Object Number: 2010.105
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

Audio

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Episode 4: A Portrait

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