Henry Darnall III (1702-ca. 1787)

Description

Full-length portrait shows Henry Darnall III as a boy in yellow-orange tunic and green cape holding a bow and arrow. To the left is an enslaved valet boy wearing a silver collar, holding a dead bird. Throughout colonial British America, it was not unusual for some slave owners to have their enslaved domestics wear silver collars engraved with their names and addresses like the wide collar worn by valet seen here. The dead bird that he holds in his right hand—presumably killed with Darnall's bow and arrow—is another marker of his servile status. His placement behind the balustrade is meant to reflect his supposed inferior position to his young enslaver.