Minneapolis Institute of Art

Portrait of Richard John Cock

Joshua Johnson

Date

c. 1817

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Joshua Johnson was the earliest documented professional Black portrait painter in the United States, who forged a successful career primarily in Baltimore, Maryland. A freedman, Johnson attracted prominent clients through a newspaper advertisement referring to himself as a “self-taught genius” inspired by nature. His patrons included politicians, doctors, clergymen, and merchants. Johnson made several paintings memorializing children after their deaths, commissioned by their grieving families. This full-length portrait depicts Richard John Cock, who died at age 9 in 1817. Here, Richard stands in a lush garden, surrounded by sweet-scented roses and pointing to a moth. Because of the insect’s life cycle, this symbol is aligned with the hope for rebirth, regeneration, transformation, and change. Americas

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