Philip King of Mount Hope

Early New Englanders knew the Native American chief Metacomet as King Philip. As the leader of the Wampanoag people around Narragansett Bay, he rallied neighboring tribal warriors to respond aggressively as members of the Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies broke treaties with the local tribes and pushed westward. "King Philip’s War" broke out in June 1675, with raids and battles fought from the Connecticut River Valley north into Maine. By the time a truce was made in April 1678, the Native population had been reduced by half and rendered effectively landless. Colonial settlements also suffered extensive damage, with adult male numbers decimated, the economy ruined, and the western frontier pushed back eastward by miles. A century later, Revere produced this portrait to illustrate Thomas Church's "entertaining" history, an account that glosses over the war’s true costs (the Museum's copy of the related book (24.90.1876) contains another impression of the print). The conflict cast a long shadow and encouraged many Native warriors to fight for the British during the American Revolution, believing that this would lead to the restoration of their ancestral lands.

Revere presents Metacomet dressed in regalia that communicates royal status, standing before a band of warriors with Mount Hope in the distance. Since no portrait of Metacomet existed for the artist to refer to, he relied on a set of mezzotints that the British engraver John Simon made around 1750, portraying "Four Indian Kings"—three Mohawk tribal leaders and one Mohican from the Algonquin nations who visited London in 1710. While in England, the chiefs were honored by Queen Anne and painted by the Dutch artist Jan Vereist (Portrait Gallery of Canada), and Simon's prints reproduce those paintings. Metacomet's assertive stance, short open-necked tunic, cloak, moccasins, and rifle all derive from those earlier portraits, while his wampum belts, two powder horns and star-shaped neck ornament respond to a descriptive passage in Church's book.