African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter Volume 13 Article 3 Issue 4 December 2010 12-1-2010 The Old lP antation Painting at Colonial Williamsburg: New Findings and Some Observations Jerome S. Handler University of Virginia,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/adan Recommended Citation Handler, Jerome S. (2010) "The Old lP antation Painting at Colonial Williamsburg: New Findings and Some Observations," African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter: Vol. 13 : Iss. 4 , Article 3. Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/adan/vol13/iss4/3 This Articles, Essays, and Reports is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Handler: The Old Plantation Painting at Colonial Williamsburg: New Finding Omer Cooper J (1971) December 2010 Newsletter The Old Plantation Painting at Colonial Williamsburg: New Findings and Some Observations By Jerome S. Handler1 Arguably the best known visual depiction of African American life during the eighteenth century, this small (approx. 12” x 18”) watercolor, owned by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (CWF), poses a number of questions of interpretation and identification (Figure 1).2 Figure 1. The Old Plantation, ca. 1785-1790 (see Shames 2010: 6). Original painting in Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia (slide courtesy CWF). Image Reference ‘NW0159,’ as shown on www.slaveryimages.org, sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH) and the University of Virginia Library (UVL). 1 Published by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst, 2010 1 African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter, Vol.