The Baptism of Pocahontas

The Baptism of Pocahontas, commissioned for the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, was painted between 1837 and 1839 by John Gadsby Chapman (1808–1889) and reflects the racial attitudes of the period of Indian removal. By focusing on the christening of Pocahontas, instead of her wedding to John Rolfe, Chapman indicated his discomfort with their inter-marriage. The attitude comes across overtly in the secondary figures. The couple with child highlighted in the first pew are John and Anne Laydon, the first English couple married in the settlement and the first to have a child in Virginia. Their expression is distinctly reserved, if not sour. On the Native side, Pocahontas’ brother, Nantequas, stands with his back to the ceremony, and her uncle Opechancanough hunkers on the floor in disapproval. Opechancanough, a leader of the resistance to Jamestown, almost certainly refused to attend the ceremony. Neither did her father Powhatan, who expressed fear for his personal security. Photo courtesy of architect of the capitol