Name/Title
Portrait of Denny Neptune Soccabeson | Lt. Alexander Henry Charles Villiers (d. 1847-1849) | Photograph of Original Watercolor PaintingDescription
Photograph of original watercolor painting. Original painting is now in the collections of Colonial Williamsburg. See web link to Colonial Williamsburg entry on this painting.
Description from Colonial Williamsburg web site:
An interior scene with a Native woman seated, her arms crossed, on a bench in front of a table set with a pitcher, two dishes (one seems to be slipping off the table), and a feather object hanging over the edge of the table. The woman is dressed in an elaborate costume including a high-crowned, decorated hat completely covering her hair. She wears a cross on a chain around her neck and large hoops in her ears. A small cradleboard supporting a bound figure is propped beside her against a table leg. A water canteen hangs from a strap to the right of the window. The scene outside the window includes two men in military dress marching towards one another; one carries a rifle on his shoulder and the other carries a sword. Two large buildings are situated beyond the marching men.
Artist unidentified.
Label Text from Colonial Williamsburg web site:
Native American women often accompanied their husbands on trading missions, sometimes carrying on the active business of bartering on these excursions. Likely this Passamaquoddy woman came to Fort Sullivan (now part of Eastport, Maine) for such a purpose. Shown seated in one of the barracks buildings, the sitter was the daughter of Francis Joseph Neptune, hereditary leader of the Passamaquoddy who occupied nearby Point Pleasant. Her colorful traditional attire includes a conical cap and overdress with leggings; she also wears two circular silver brooches, earrings, and a pendant cross on a bead necklace. The figure strapped onto the cradleboard in front of her represents a baby, not a doll.
The town of Eastport was occupied by British troops during the War of 1812, with a garrison at Fort Sullivan. Access to the fort was strictly controlled during 1814-1818, so it is surmised that this 1817 portrait of Soccabeson was rendered by one of the British officers stationed there. Sketches of the bay and harbor executed by Lt. Alexander Henry Charles Villiers survive, making him a candidate for the portrait artist. A nineteenth-century history of the area describes Villiers as being "extremely fond of drawing."