{"data":{"id":193664,"api_model":"artworks","api_link":"https:\/\/api.artic.edu\/api\/v1\/artworks\/193664","is_boosted":true,"title":"The Captive Slave (Ira Aldridge)","alt_titles":null,"thumbnail":{"lqip":"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhBAAFAPQAABwYFxwaGCchHSklHSslHSwnHTArHzcmIDQuIjQuIzUuIzctJEAqI0MqIkktJE4tJVEuJlAzKl46MGE1KwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAAEAAUAAAURIGEgSLEgRCM5ATQ9wBE1QggAOw==","width":9791,"height":12331,"alt_text":"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."},"main_reference_number":"2008.188","has_not_been_viewed_much":false,"boost_rank":null,"date_start":1827,"date_end":1827,"date_display":"1827","date_qualifier_title":"","date_qualifier_id":null,"artist_display":"John Philip Simpson (English, 1782\u20131847)","place_of_origin":"England","description":"<p>In the years leading up to the British Emancipation Act of 1833, this painting of an enslaved man constituted a timely abolitionist appeal. Set against a deeply shadowed background, the figure\u2019s upward gaze suggests a yearning for freedom as he sits manacled to a bench. The composition echoes conventional imagery of Christian saints and martyrs; artist John Philip Simpson used familiar iconography to appeal to the sentimentality of wealthy white viewers with the requisite power to sway public policy. But the deeply moving pose also reflects the artistic contribution of the man who modeled for the figure, now identified as Ira Aldridge, a freeborn American actor famous for playing the title role in Shakespeare\u2019s Othello. His performance in Thomas Morton\u2019s musical drama <em>The Slave<\/em> may have been the immediate inspiration for Simpson\u2019s painting. Aldridge was also renowned for his impassioned speeches for the abolitionist cause.<\/p>\n<p>In 1827, when <em>The Captive Slave<\/em> was first exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the accompanying catalogue included the following excerpt from William Cowper\u2019s 1782 antislavery poem, \u201cCharity\u201d: \u201cBut ah! what wish can prosper, or what prayer, \/ For merchants rich in cargoes of despair.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/artworks\/195722\/the-captive-slave\">engraving<\/a> of this work, published by Edward Finden in 1827, is also in the Art Institute\u2019s collection.<\/p>\n","short_description":"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\u2019s painting highlights Aldridge\u2019s gifts of expression as a tragic actor.","dimensions":"127 \u00d7 101.5 cm (50 \u00d7 40 in.); Framed: 167.1 \u00d7 141.7 cm (65 3\/4 \u00d7 55 3\/4 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":101,"height":127,"diameter":null,"clarification":null},{"depth":null,"width":141,"height":167,"diameter":null,"clarification":"Framed"}],"medium_display":"Oil on canvas","inscriptions":null,"credit_line":"Purchased with funds provided by Mary Winton Green, Dan and Sara Green Cohan, Howard and Lisa Green and Jonathan and Brenda Green, in memory of David Green","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"\"Fine Arts: Royal Academy,\" The Examiner (July 15, 1827).\n\n\"Fine Arts: British Institution,\" The Atlas 3, 94 (March 2, 1828): 140.\n\nThe London Magazine (April 1828): 28, no. 136.\n\nAlgernon Graves, The Royal Academy of Arts: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and their Work from its Foundation in 1769 to 1904, vol. 7 (London: Henry Graves, 1906), 131, no. 283.\n\n\"The Story of Art Retold: New Acquisitions at the Art Institute of Chicago,\" Apollo (October 2008): 49 (ill.).\n\nMartin Postle, \"The Captive Slave by John Simpson (1782-1847): A rediscovered masterpiece\", British Art Journal 9, 3 (Spring 2009): 18-26. \n\nBernth Lindfors, Ira Aldridge: The Early Years, 1807-1833 (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2011), 109.\n\nChilds, Adrienne L., Susan H. Libby, The Black Figure in the the European Imaginary, exh. cat. (Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida\/GILES, 2017), 18-19, fig. 4; 20, 55 (color pl.).\n\nMarc Vitali, \"New Play Looks at Life of Trailblazing African-American Actor,\" WTTW: Chicago Tonight, December 11, 2017, ill.\n\nDes Cars, Laurence, et. al. Le Mod\u00e9le Noir [The Black Model], exh. cat. (Paris: Mus\u00e9e d' Orsay\/Flammarion, 2019), 138-41 cat. 99, 357.\n\nFarah Peterson, \"On Our Knees: What the history of a gesture can tell us about Black creative power,\" American Scholar, September 7, 2021 <a href=\"https:\/\/theamericanscholar.org\/on-our-knees\/\">https:\/\/theamericanscholar.org\/on-our-knees\/<\/a>\n\nAdriano Pedrosa and Tomas Toledo, eds., Afto-Atlantic Histories, exh. cat. (New York: Del Monaco Books, 2021), 88 fig. 26.\n\nEsther Chadwich, \"'All Beautiful in Wod: The Royal Academy and Enslavement, 1768\u20131840,\" in Entangled Pasts, 1768\u2013Now: Art, Colonialism and Change, exh. cat. (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2024), 24-25 fig. 15.\n\nJames Rondeau, ed., Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the collection (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2025), 62 (ill.).\n\nJames Rondeau, ed., Highlights of the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2026), 100, 260, no. 71, (ill.).","exhibition_history":"London, Royal Academy of Arts, 1827, no. 283.\n\nLondon, British Institution, 1828, no. 136.\n\nLiverpool, Liverpool Academy, 1828, no. 95.\n\nWinter Park, The Cornell Fine Arts Museum, The Black Figure in the European Imaginary, Jan. 20 - Mar. 15, 2017. \n\nNew York, Wallach Art Gallery, Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet to Matisse, Oct. 24, 2018-Feb. 10, 2019; Paris, Mus\u00e9e d'Orsay, Le Mod\u00e9le Noir [The Black Model], Mar. 25 - July 14 2019, cat. 99; Guadeloupe, M\u00e9morial ACTe, Sep. 13-Dec. 29, 2019 [Paris only].\n\nMuseum of Fine Arts, Houston, Afro-Atlantic Histories, Oct. 24, 2021-Jan. 17, 2022, cat. 26; Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, Apr. 10-July 17, 2022; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Nov. 1, 2022-Apr. 30, 2023; Dallas Museum of Art, Oct. 2023-Jan. 2024. [Houston and Washington only].","provenance_text":"Private collection, United Kingdom, after 1827 [this and the following according to Postle 2009]. Sold James Adam and Sons, Ltd., Dublin, November 6, 1996, lot no. 164, to a private collector; private collection, Surrey, United Kingdom, 1996 [according to email correspondence of May 26, 2016, between Ben Elwes and Gloria Groom; copy in curatorial file]; sold to Ben Elwes Fine Art, London; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2008.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":14,"fiscal_year":2008,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":true,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":0,"color":{"h":37,"l":47,"s":8,"percentage":8.282751879043727e-7,"population":1},"latitude":41.8799648722649,"longitude":-87.6237253668995,"latlon":"41.879964872265,-87.6237253669","is_on_view":true,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":"Gallery 220","gallery_id":2147483611,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Painting and Sculpture of Europe","department_id":"PC-10","artist_id":107195,"artist_title":"John Philip Simpson","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[107195],"artist_titles":["John Philip Simpson"],"category_ids":["PC-10"],"category_titles":["Painting and Sculpture of Europe"],"term_titles":["nineteenth century","men","oil painting","oil paint (paint)","painting","slavery","red (color)","portraits: male subject","portraits: African subject","portraits","portrait","man","chains","actors (performing artists)","19th century","painting techniques","painting","painting","paint","paint","oil paintings (visual works)","oil on canvas","portrait","british","painting (image making)","canvas"],"style_id":"TM-15636","style_title":"nineteenth century","alt_style_ids":["TM-13203"],"style_ids":["TM-15636","TM-13203"],"style_titles":["nineteenth century","19th century"],"classification_id":"TM-9","classification_title":"painting","alt_classification_ids":["TM-10387","TM-78","TM-66","TM-12855","TM-15669"],"classification_ids":["TM-9","TM-10387","TM-78","TM-66","TM-12855","TM-15669"],"classification_titles":["painting","paint","oil paintings (visual works)","oil on canvas","portrait","british"],"subject_id":"TM-10121","alt_subject_ids":["TM-12486","TM-11851","TM-8581","TM-8595","TM-8658","TM-14105","TM-14974","TM-15580","TM-12563"],"subject_ids":["TM-10121","TM-12486","TM-11851","TM-8581","TM-8595","TM-8658","TM-14105","TM-14974","TM-15580","TM-12563"],"subject_titles":["men","slavery","red (color)","portraits: male subject","portraits: African subject","portraits","portrait","man","chains","actors (performing artists)"],"material_id":"TM-2451","alt_material_ids":["TM-13502","TM-2577","TM-3124"],"material_ids":["TM-2451","TM-13502","TM-2577","TM-3124"],"material_titles":["oil paint (paint)","painting","paint","canvas"],"technique_id":"TM-4273","alt_technique_ids":["TM-3971","TM-14210","TM-3891"],"technique_ids":["TM-4273","TM-3971","TM-14210","TM-3891"],"technique_titles":["oil painting","painting techniques","painting","painting (image making)"],"theme_titles":[],"image_id":"5490fd49-dd52-4fd7-7d41-d871dcffae55","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":["e694a130-f9f9-d8e0-d06b-0c922636f6df"],"sound_ids":["e694a130-f9f9-d8e0-d06b-0c922636f6df"],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"The Captive Slave (Ira Aldridge)","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["2008.188"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["The Captive Slave (Ira Aldridge)"],"weight":17311,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-05-13T10:58:07-05:00","updated_at":"2026-08-27T15:12:02-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-06T05:53:06-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu.","license_links":["https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/","https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/terms"],"version":"1.15"},"config":{"iiif_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/iiif\/2","website_url":"http:\/\/www.artic.edu"}}