Nathaniel Jocelyn, Cinque, c. 1840, oil on canvas, 76.8cm x 64.8cm, New Haven Colony Historical Society, New Haven.
Commissioned by abolitionist, Robert Purvis, the painting depicts Sengbe Pieh (also known as Joseph Cinqué or Cinqué). Born in West Africa and of the Mende people, Cinqué led a mutiny on a Spanish slave ship. He was imprisoned in the USA and tried for piracy. He was acquitted and sailed back to Sierra Leone with a group of missionaries.
The Artist Fund Society of Philadelphia refused to exhibit the painting in 1841. Their response was that is was 'contrary to usage to display works of the character, believing that under the excitement of the times , it might prove injurious both to the proprietors and the institution'. Robert Purvis remarked about the exclusion that the true reasoning was because the subject was a hero and 'a black man has no right to be a hero'.
