Inventing American Stories, 1765–1830

John Greenwood (American, 1727–1792)
Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam, ca. 1752–58
Oil on bed ticking; 37 3/4 x 75 1/4 in. (95.9 x 191.1 cm)
Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase (256:1948)

In 1752, in pursuit of greater artistic opportunity and perhaps a little adventure, the Boston portraitist Greenwood followed a group of colonial sea captains and privateers to the Dutch outpost of Surinam on the northeast coast of South America. The lucrative but treacherous trade in lumber, horses, rum, sugar, molasses, coffee, indigo, and slaves took time, and the men of business waited in pubs. Inspired by the heady atmosphere—and seeking to mimic William Hogarth's satirical paintings—Greenwood concocted a twenty-two-figure tavern scene, including several portraits of Newport businessmen. He shows himself leaning against the door and vomiting, a lowly painter among affluent traders, all of them subject to the intoxicating effects of alcohol and economic ambition.