Art and Historical Events
One cannot deny the importance of remembering, representing, and honoring a collective past. However, this should not end here because it is equally important to understand a deeper significance to visual records. For the purposes of this paper, four images will be analyzed. These images portray historical events and convey a message when viewed in the context of the age in which it was created.
Baptism of Pocahontas
By John Gadsby Chapman
John Gadsby Chapman’s Baptist of Pocahontas was placed in the U.S. Capitol in 1840. Historically, this image depicts how Pocahontas was baptized and was later on given the name Rebecca in an Anglican church. In fact, Pocahontas was considered to be the earliest native whom converted to Christianity after she married John Rolfe. The content of this painting clearly portrays how peaceful relationships between the Tidewater tribes and the colonists were sought to be established during this point of time. The connection between the content and context was most clearly represented with how Chapman included the members of the Tidewater tribes on the right side of Pocahontas while she was being baptized. During this time, the artist can be considered successful in communicating contextual influences. However, for a modern viewer, the message may be too difficult to understand, most especially if one is not well equipped with the history of the early natives and their conversion to Christianity.…show more content… Weir