An early Black family portrait entered public view in Baltimore

THE STORY, IN BRIEF

Maya Pontone reported for Hyperallergic on a family-held portrait newly displayed at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Attributed to James Alexander Simpson and thought to depict Mary Ann Tritt Cassell, the 1839 painting may have been commissioned by her mother, Henrietta Steptoe, who had been enslaved. The reporting traced family provenance and curatorial research while preserving uncertainty around the sitter and commission.

Summarised from Hyperallergic · Maya Pontone. AFROSCOPE Daily has not independently reported this story.