On Francis Williams's Rediscovered Portrait

Layers of relevance

This LL comes from a reading of Fara Dabhoiwala’s article on the subject in The London Review of Books Vol. 46 No. 22 · 21 November 2024.

In the autumn of 1928, a previously unknown painting emerged on the London art market. It was part of Major Henry Howard of Surrey's family inheritance sale, which included high-quality 18th-century portraits. This small, uncredited canvas had a fascinating history: it once belonged to Edward Long, a renowned Jamaican planter and author, and featured a man named Francis Williams.

Long's 1774 History of Jamaica included a spiteful ten-page account of Williams, who was the most celebrated Black individual in the English-speaking world during his lifetime. Born into slavery in the 1690s, Williams was sent to England by his free, affluent merchant parents and studied at Cambridge. He returned to Jamaica in 1724 as a wealthy gentleman and accomplished scholar, writing Latin poetry and socialising with the island's intellectual elite.

However, Long, an advocate of slavery, used his biography to mock Williams as an absurd "Negro" feigning intellect. This racist depiction of Williams endured for nearly a century until modern scholars rediscovered the painting in the 1990s. Many assumed it was meant as a caricature, given the awkward portrayal of Williams's body.

Nevertheless, new findings have revolutionised our perception of this extraordinary portrait. By analysing high-resolution scans, Fara Dabhoiwala uncovered details that had been disregarded for decades. The most notable was the inclusion of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary on Williams's bookshelf, indicating that the painting could not have been created in the 1730s or 1740s as previously believed but must have been painted towards the end of Williams's life, between 1755 and 1762.

This redating suggests the portrait's true artist: the Anglo-American painter William Williams, who visited Jamaica in 1760 and documented painting 54 pictures there. The style and composition of the Francis Williams portrait strongly indicate it is one of those lost works.

Far from being a caricature, this painting is Francis Williams's self-representation, a detailed message about his remarkable achievements and status. The books and scientific instruments surrounding him attest to his extensive scholarship, while the open volume of Newton's Principia on the table directly references his election to the Royal Society in 1716. At that time, leading Newtonians like Martin Folkes and Edmond Halley proposed him, and scientific giants like Newton himself attended.

This was an incredible feat for a young Black man in the early 18th century. The Royal Society rejected Williams's election, "solely for a reason unworthy of that learned body, viz. on account of his complection." But the portrait demonstrates that he remained part of the intellectual elite, corresponding with scholars and gaining a reputation as a man "of parts and learning."

By the time this portrait was painted, in the wake of the vicious racist attacks by David Hume and Edward Long, Williams was a wealthy, self-assured planter in his late 60s. The painting is his rebuttal, showcasing his erudition and intellectual equality with the greatest minds of the Enlightenment. It is the earliest known self-representation of a Black intellectual in Western art.

Regrettably, this remarkable portrait was long misinterpreted and consigned to a museum's decorative arts section, valued only for its depiction of furniture. Now, thanks to close visual analysis and new historical discoveries, we can finally recognise it as a defiant declaration of Black achievement during the height of the transatlantic slave trade.

Significance

The story of Francis Williams and his portrait has several layers of relevance:

1. It sheds light on the often-overlooked history and contributions of Black intellectuals during the era of the transatlantic slave trade. Williams was a remarkable figure - a slave-born man who gained an elite education, became a respected scholar, and asserted his intellectual equality with white contemporaries. His story challenges the racist stereotypes propagated by figures like David Hume and Edward Long.

2. The rediscovery and reinterpretation of Williams' portrait highlights how historical narratives and art can be shaped by prejudice and overlooked. For centuries, this painting was misunderstood as a caricature, until close analysis revealed its true nature as Williams' proud self-representation. This speaks to the importance of re-evaluating and centring marginalised perspectives in our understanding of the past.

3. On a broader level, the story illustrates the power of art and visual culture to convey identity, status, and political messaging. Williams used his portrait as a deliberate statement, referencing his scientific accomplishments and refuting racist attacks. This underscores how art can be a tool of resistance and self-expression, particularly for marginalised groups.

4. More specifically, the portrait's connection to the Royal Society and Newtonian science points to the entanglement of imperial power, racism, and the development of Western knowledge systems. Williams' exclusion from the Royal Society on racial grounds reveals the exclusionary nature of these elite intellectual institutions, even as they relied on global colonial networks for scientific data and innovation.

Ultimately, the rediscovery of Francis Williams' portrait and the rich history it represents is significant because it recovers an important, overlooked Black intellectual figure and challenges dominant narratives about race, knowledge, and power in the Enlightenment era. It is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the complex legacies of colonialism and the ongoing struggle for racial justice and inclusion.