Portrait of Richard John Cock c. 1817

Joshua Johnson, a relatively unsung artist of the late 18th and early 19th century, painted this portrait of Richard John Cock using oil on canvas. Consider the material reality of painting at this time: pigments painstakingly ground and mixed, stretched canvas representing a significant investment. Johnson, as one of America's first professional African-American painters, would have had to navigate a complex social landscape to gain access to these materials and the patronage necessary to make a living. Note the somewhat stiff, naive quality of the painting. Johnson was self-taught, and this directness is part of the picture’s charm. But it also reflects the realities of artistic production in a young nation, where formal training was scarce and artists often relied on ingenuity and resourcefulness. The portrait speaks to the aspirations of a rising middle class, eager to display their status through material goods and artistic representation. Looking at the painting, we see not just an individual, but the intersection of artistic skill, social mobility, and the material conditions of early American life.