Pocahontas
1 portrait
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Pocahontas
published by William Richardson, after Simon de Passe
line engraving, published 10 August 1793 (1616)
6 3/4 in. x 5 3/4 in. (172 mm x 146 mm) plate size; 10 5/8 in. x 8 3/8 in. (271 mm x 214 mm) paper size
Given by John Henry Hutton, 1964
Reference Collection
NPG D5536
On display in Room 3 on Floor 3 at the National Portrait Gallery
Sitterback to top
- Pocahontas (Amonute) (née Matoaka, later Rebecca Rolfe) (circa 1596-1617), Indian princess. Sitter in 3 portraits.
Artistsback to top
- Simon de Passe (1595-1647), Engraver. Artist or producer associated with 200 portraits, Sitter in 4 portraits.
- William Richardson (active 1777-1814), Bookseller, printseller and auctioneer. Artist or producer associated with 400 portraits.
This portraitback to top
This is a version of the only portrait of Pocahontas made during her lifetime. The original print was produced during her stay in England from 1616 to 1617. She wears the fashionable clothes of a English courtier with a tall hat, lace collar, pearl earring and ostrich feather fan. Her appearance befits her presentation in London as an ‘Indian Princess’ and a ‘civilised savage’. The print is the source of numerous later depictions of Pocahontas, which proliferated as her fame grew.
Related worksback to top
- NPG D5537: Pocahontas (from same plate)
- NPG D28135: Pocahontas (from same plate)
Linked publicationsback to top
- Smartify image discovery app
- Birkett, Dea; Morris, Jan (foreword), Off the Beaten Track: Three Centuries of Women Travellers, 2004 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 7 July to 31 October 2004), p. 130
- Hackforth-Jones, Jos; Bindman, David; Pratt, Stephanie; Ray, Romita, Between Worlds: Voyagers to Britain 1700-1850, 2007 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 8 March to 17 June 2007), p. 14
Placesback to top
- Place made: United Kingdom: England, London (Castle Street, Leicester Square, London)
Events of 1793back to top
Current affairs
Whig MP Charles Grey enters a motion for parliamentary reform but is defeated in the House of Commons.Art and science
Radical philosopher William Godwin publishes Political Justice, an inflamatory document that promoted rational anarchism. This crystallised a wider feeling that a new era of world peace and progress was beginning.Sir William Beechey is appointed Portrait Painter to her Majesty, Queen Charlotte.
International
Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette are executed and the Reign of Terror begins.France declares war on Britain, Holland and then Spain. William Pitt addresses the House of Commons and Britain hesitantly joins the first coalition of anti-revolutionary European states to oppose the French threat.
Attack on Corsica in which Captain Horatio Nelson loses an eye.
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