Pocahontas

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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

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

Linked publicationsback to top

Placesback to top

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

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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