Prime Impression: “Portrait of William Duguid”, 1773.
Prince Demah was an American painter of African ancestry who was formerly enslaved and energetic in Boston in the late 1700s. Demah is “the only recognised enslaved artist working in colonial The usa whose paintings have survived.” In 1773 William Duguid sat for Prince Demah, a painter of African descent, who was then owned by a merchant named Henry Barnes. Impressed with his expertise, Barnes took him to London in 1771, the place he qualified briefly with British portrait painter Robert Edge Pine who afterwards moved to Philadelphia. There, he learned how to prepare oil paints and how to paint a portrait. Demah formed his thoughts of how qualified artists should interact when portray portraits from genuine existence. Demah’s tale is incredible he is the only enslaved artist operating in colonial America whose paintings are recognized to have survived. A few portraits by him have been determined to date.
The portraits of his house owners, Henry and Christian Barnes of Marlborough, Massachusetts, have been given to the Hingham Historical Culture by Susan Barker Willard. Whilst unsigned, they are also believed to be by Demah.
In 1775, after a collection of threatening incidents, together with the tarring and feathering of Henry Barnes’s horse, the Barnesses fled to England. In April 1777, at the outbreak of the American Groundbreaking War, the artist remained in Boston, identifying himself as “Prince Demah, limner” and a “cost-free Negro.” He enlisted in the Massachusetts militia in 1777 to battle from the British. The enlistment data exhibit he identified himself as only “Prince Demah”, discarding the name of his previous owner.
Demah died of an unknown health issues the next 12 months. On March 11, 1778, he wrote his will, which he signed as “Prince Demah of Boston…a limner” and a “absolutely free Negro.” Demah bequeathed his estate to his “Loving Mother Daphne Demah”. His burial was recorded a 7 days afterwards at Trinity Church, Boston, where he and his mom who was also a slave have been baptized.
