Name: Saturday Art: Portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo - Shadowproof
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Saturday Art: Portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo - Shadowproof

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Portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo. Source: wikipediaI was all set to feature a different work of art today, until I saw an article about this beautiful portrait in .The artist is William Hoare (1707-1792). It was recently purchased by the Qatar Museums Authority at auction for £530,000, but the British government has imposed a temporary export bar because the work is seen as having great historic importance. It is on view at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The painting had disappeared and only came to light again in 2010. Diallo is posed formally, wearing&nbsp; traditional African clothing, with a copy of a Koran around his neck, which he had written himself from memory.According to the Guardian, Diallo was born around 1701 into a wealthy family in Senegambia, West Africa (now modern Senegal and Gambia). He was highly educated and spoke several languages. On a trading trip in 1731 during which ironically he sold two slaves for his father, he himself was captured and sold to the captain of a slave ship who took him to Maryland. &nbsp;. . .From the Guardian:He was rescued from a tobacco plantation in Maryland by Thomas Bluett, an English lawyer and missionary, and brought to England where he became a celebrity, meeting George II and the intellectuals of the 1730s, and translating Arabic documents and inscriptions for Sir Hans Sloane, whose collections would become the nucleus of the British Museum.According to the National Portrait Gallery, Hoare painted this portrait in 1733, which is when Diallo was in England. William Hoare was probably the most fashionable British portrait artist of his day. He painted two British Prime Ministers, Robert Walpole and William Pitt, the composer Georg Friedrich Händel, the poet Alexander Pope and many other famous personalities. The National Portrait Gallery has 69 of his works, and many others are displayed elsewhere in the UK. Hoare was a handsome fellow himself, as you can see from .Now this part is a bit of mystery. According to most sources I’ve read, William Hoare traveled to Italy to study art in 1728, and he remained there for 9 or 10 years before returning to England. Diallo was held in slavery for year or two. He spent a short time in England and then returned to his home in Africa in 1734. So when and where did he sit for this portrait? If the date of the painting is accurate, Hoare must have made a trip to England sometime around 1733 and then returned to Italy a second time.More about Diallo is found in theIn the Americas, Ayuba shared the experiences of many enslaved Africans, and like many of his fellow Africans he attempted to run away. Ayuba was a slave at the tobacco plantations of Kent Island, Maryland. He had probably never worked under a labor regime that approached what was the norm on American plantations. During one of his attempts to escape, he met Thomas Bluett, an Englishmen, who, impressed by Ayuba’s Muslim education, helped him gain his liberty and return to Africa.Also, Thomas Bluett later wrote a memoir, which is available and here is a bit of what he had to say about Diallo:His natural Parts were remarkably good; and I believe most of the Gentlemen that conversed with him frequently, will remember many Instances of his Ingenuity. On all Occasions he discovered a solid judgment, a ready Memory, and a clear Head. And, notwithstanding the Prejudices which it was natural for him to have in favour of his own religious Principles, it was very observable with how much Temper and Impartiality he would reason in Conversation upon any Question of that kind, while at the same Time he would frame such Replies, as were calculated at once to support his own Opinion, and to oblige or please his Opponent. In his Reasonings there appeared nothing trifling, nothing hypocritical or over-strained; but, on the contrary, strong Sense, joined with an innocent Simplicity, a strict Regard to Truth, and a hearty Desire to find it. Tho’ it was a considerable Disadvantage to him in Company, that he was not sufficient Master of our Language; yet those who were used to his Way, by making proper Allowances, always found themselves agreeably entertained by him.The Acuteness of his Genius appear’d upon many Occasions. He very readily conceived the Mechanism and Use of most of the ordinary Instruments which were shewed to him here; and particularly, upon seeing a Plow, a Grist Mill, and a Clock taken to pieces, he was able to put them together again himself, without any farther Direction.His Memory was extraordinary; for when he was fifteen Years old he could say the whole Alcoran by heart, and while he was here in England he wrote three Copies of it without the Assistance of any other Copy, and without so much as looking to one of those three when he wrote the others. He would often laugh at me when he heard me say I had forgot any Thing, and told me he hardly ever forgot any Thing in his Life, and wondered that any other body should.Shadowproof is a financially independent news organization. All of our funding comes from small donations made by readers like you.We use your donations to hire freelance writers and cover our operating costs. Monthly membership subscriptions give us the stability we need to make plans while ensuring our organization does not depend on grants or major funders. If you like what you read, support our writers with a donation today.&nbsp;

Portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo. Source: wikipediaI was all set to feature a different work of art today, until I saw an article about this beautiful portrait in .The artist is William Hoare (1707-1792). It was recently purchased by the Qatar Museums Authority at auction for £530,000, but the British government has imposed a temporary export bar because the work is seen as having great historic importance. It is on view at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The painting had disappeared and only came to light again in 2010. Diallo is posed formally, wearing&nbsp; traditional African...

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Saturday Art: Portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo - Shadowproof

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