Thomas Willing

Charles Willson Peale

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Philadelphia-born Thomas Willing (1731–1821) partnered with British-born Robert Morris (1734–1806) to establish the mercantile firm Willing, Morris and Company in 1757. It became one of the most successful in Philadelphia, exporting flour, tobacco, and lumber to Europe, as well as importing sugar, rum, molasses, and—most abhorrently—enslaved laborers from the West Indies and Africa. Here, Peale depicted the merchant framed by a view of the Atlantic Ocean, the source of his wealth and status. Willing holds an emblem of his transatlantic trade and patriotism. Made of imported silver and tortoiseshell, the box—featuring a profile of his close friend George Washington— held snuff, a finely powdered tobacco that was one of Willing’s profitable exports.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art