Copy of a newspaper advertisement placed in the Baltimore Intelligencer for portrait painting services by Joshua Johnson (spelled "Johnston" in the advertisement). In it, Johnson (c.1763-c.1824) describes himself as a "self-taught genius" and offers to provide the "most precise and natural likenesses." Johnson was the earliest documented professional African American painter in the United States.…

Joshua Johnson portrait painting advertisement

Description

Copy of a newspaper advertisement placed in the Baltimore Intelligencer for portrait painting services by Joshua Johnson (spelled "Johnston" in the advertisement). In it, Johnson (c.1763-c.1824) describes himself as a "self-taught genius" and offers to provide the "most precise and natural likenesses." Johnson was the earliest documented professional African American painter in the United States. He lived the majority of his life in Baltimore, Maryland. He was formerly enslaved and received his freedom in 1782.

Creator

Johnson, Joshua, active 1796-1824

Date

1798-12-19

Publisher

[Baltimore]: [Baltimore Intelligencer]

Language(s)

English

Collection Number

EPHEM

Extent

1 clipping

Resource ID

3057

Digital Publisher

Digital resource provided by the Maryland Center for History and Culture

Rights

The Maryland Center for History and Culture believes this work to be in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States and it therefore may be used, reproduced and distributed without permission. As MCHC is responsible for the digitized version of this work, MCHC requests attribution for material obtained from this website, citing our name and the resource ID.

Rights URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/