Reception of the American Loyalists by Great Britain in the Year 1783
Reception of the American Loyalists by Great Britain in the Year 1783 is a
The original painting and its date of creation have been lost but is survived by a pair of replicas, one by engraver Henry Moses and one by West himself in the background of a later portrait, completed in 1811 and 1812 respectively.[2][3]
Background
Britannia had existed as a deification or personification of Great Britain and its people since ancient times, while West's previous work as a painter had developed a deep sense of British nationalism, seen in his
The American Loyalists, peoples of the Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to the Crown against the Patriot cause, were commonly noted as transcending racial boundaries. In addition to white colonizers siding with British rule out of conservatism, privilege or reformism, Patriot-owned slaves were officially offered freedom in return for their defection while the Iroquois peoples were polarized between pro-British and pro-French factions. After their defeat in the Revolutionary War, the various anti-Patriot groups were expelled en mass from the newly founded United States, with about 100,000 fleeing primarily to the loyal colonies of what would eventually become Canada, forming many communities both there and abroad that persist to this day. They were there afforded the honorary title of United Empire Loyalist and received land grants handled through the Loyalist Claims Commission, though the Black Loyalist communities would continue to face discrimination for generations to come.
Painting and analysis
The figures holding Britannia's
The painting is considered historically and culturally significant for its depiction of the Black Loyalists, however historian Barry Cahill instead criticized the painting as presenting what he considered an idealized and inaccurate mythologization of the Black Loyalists' history in Atlantic Canada. He heavily cited the pro-slavery views and practices of many white Loyalists, characterizing the freed Patriot slaves as opportunistic freedom-seekers only trying to survive in what was an inherently oppressive society.[5]
History
The timeframe of the painting's creation is extremely uncertain, estimated at anywhere from 1783 to 1811[3] (i.e. anywhere from the actual year depicted through to the publishing of its first replica).
The painting came into the possession of John Eardley Wilmot but was later lost. Its content is nonetheless preserved through a pair of replicas: an engraving by Henry Moses which captures the exact detail and composition of the original, and West's own full-color reinterpretation of the work when he included the original as the background of his later portrait of Wilmot, celebrating Wilmot's capacity as chief commissioner of the Loyalist Claims Commission.[2]
References
- ^ Allen, Thomas B. "Who Were the Tories?". Tories: Fighting for the King in America's First Civil War. Archived from the original on 2013-02-21. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
- ^ a b "Black Loyalists in New Brunswick, 1783–1854: John Eardley Wilmot". University of New Brunswick Libraries. Archived from the original on 2014-03-31. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
- ^ a b Norton, Mary Beth. "Eardley-Wilmot, Britannia, and the Loyalists: A Painting by Benjamin West", Perspectives in American History, 6 (1972), pp. 128–31
- ^ a b "Black Loyalists in New Brunswick, 1783–1854: The Reception of the American Loyalists by Great Britain". University of New Brunswick Libraries. Archived from the original on 2014-12-05. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
- JSTOR 30303264. Accessed 25 Apr. 2023.