William Unsah Sessarakoo
This engraved portrait shows the head and upper torso of William Ansah Sessarakoo (c. 1736–1770), who was Fante and born in Anomabu in the Voltaic region. His father, John Correntee, was the head of local government. He was enslaved and taken to Barbados. The engraving caption described how “William Unsah Sessarakoo, son of John Bannishee Corrantee, ohinnee of Anamaboe and of Eukobah, daughter of Ansah Sessarakoo, king of Aquamboo & niece to Quishadoo, king of Akroan. He was sold at Barbados as a slave in the year 1744. He was redeemed at the earnest request of his father in the year 1748 and brought to England.” John Faber Jr. (1684–1756) was a Dutch portrait engraver born in The Hague, who lived and worked in London. Faber concentrated on mezzotints. This engraving, dated 1749, derived from a painting by Gabriel Mathias, who was an eminent London painter. Both the painter and the engraver were identified on the lower borders of the image (which are not clearly visible on the version displayed herein, but quite evident when examining the original engraving). There is no information how or when Mathias painted the portrait; or the present location of the painting.
Image Title
William Unsah Sessarakoo
RegID
SI-OB-1101
Date
1749
Title
William Unsah Sessarakoo
Source
Copies held in The National Portrait Gallery, London and Barbados Museum.
Language
English
Item sets
Portraits & Illustrations of Individuals
Spatial Coverage
Caribbean--Barbados
Reproduced In
About engraver see Universal Magazine, vol. 3 (London: 1748), p. 232. For details, see a biography of Sessarakoo, called The Royal African: or, Memoirs of the Young Prince of Annamaboe (London, 1749); and Jerome S. Handler, “Survivors of the Middle Passage: Life Histories of Enslaved Africans in British America,” Slavery & Abolition 23, 1 (2002): p. 136n7. An earlier version of this engraving was published in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 20 (June, 1750), facing p. 272, which refers to an earlier article in the magazine briefly reporting on Sessarakoo's life and visit to London (vol. 19, (February, 1749), p. 89-90). The engraving was published in separate sheets and sold at 1 shilling, 6 pence each. The National Portrait Gallery in London has two copies of this engraving. The Barbados Museum also has a copy; the image shown here is from a photographic copy of the Barbados Museum engraving, and was provided to Jerome Handler in October 1960 by the late Neville Connell, Director.
Researchers
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Identifier
I028