The Captive Slave (Ira Aldridge)1827
This painting by John Philip Simpson is both a powerful abolitionist statement and a striking portrait of the celebrated Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge. More about this work
About this work
This painting by John Philip Simpson is both a powerful abolitionist statement and a striking portrait of the celebrated Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge. A freeborn American, Aldridge became the first Black man to play Othello on the London stage in 1833. Simpson’s painting highlights Aldridge’s gifts of expression as a tragic actor.
Text from the Art Institute of Chicago.
What you’re looking at
Painting of a dark-skinned man seated and wearing a red open-necked tunic. He looks up to the right. His wrists are shackled and a large chain rests at his right, running down the bench he sits upon.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
How it was made
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
John Philip Simpson
English, 1782–1847
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 2008.188
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Painting
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
