An Emblem of America

Date1800

Publisher P. Stampa

Mediummezzotint engraving with period hand color adhered to glass with Venice Turpentine and Mastick or Turpentine Varnish. In period frame.

DimensionsFramed: 16 × 12in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1930-462

DescriptionLower margin reads: "An EMBLEM of AMERICA./ Published April 21, 1800, by P. Stampa, 30 Leather Lane, London."
Label TextAfter the United States gained independence from Britain, the allegorical figure symbolizing America, formulated in the 16th century, was transformed to represent the newly formed United States. Though there was variation, increasingly the figure representing “America” was a white woman, reminiscent of allegorical figures from Ancient Rome and Greece. In the Emblem of America, the robed figure holding the American flag stands next to a monument memorializing George Washington. New symbols of national identity had emerged, but the former attributes are there: the feather in her hair and Niagara Falls in the distance. An African American child, dressed in the guise of the previous allegorical Native American figure, suggests that Anglo-Europeans still regarded Indians and Africans as subservient inhabitants of the United States.

Exhibition(s)

Promoting America: Maps of the Colonies and the New Republic