Study for Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences, or The Genius of America Encouraging the Emancipation of the Blacks

In this study for an allegorical painting intended to be a gift for the Library Company of Philadelphia, Philadelphia-born artist Samuel Jennings portrays liberty as a white, blonde, woman placing books on a pedestal near a group of subservient and grateful Black people. A broken chain lies at her feet. She holds a liberty cap on a long pole and is surrounded by items symbolizing the arts and sciences. In the background a group of Black people dance around a liberty pole and perform music on a gourd banjo. The directors of the Library Company who suggested the anti-slavery subject matter of the painting wrote that they wanted the people in the background to be “sitting on the Earth, or in some attitude expressive of Ease & Joy.” This is the earliest known abolitionist painting by an American-born artist.