Portrait of William Duguid

Prince Demah Barnes

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

William Duguid, a Scottish immigrant textile importer based in Boston, is the subject of this engaging portrait. In 1773 he sat for Prince Demah, a painter of African descent, who was the "property" of merchant Henry Barnes. Impressed with his talent, Barnes took him to London in 1771, where he studied briefly with Robert Edge Pine. Demah’s story is extraordinary—he is the only enslaved artist working in colonial America whose paintings are known to have survived. To date, three portraits by him have been identified. 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.

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