Grace Allison McCurdy (Mrs. Hugh McCurdy) and Her Daughters, Mary Jane and Letitia Grace by Johnson, Joshua

A free Black man painted this portrait of a white Baltimore family in 1806.

It is "Grace Allison McCurdy (Mrs. Hugh McCurdy) and Her Daughters, Mary Jane and Letitia Grace" by Joshua Johnson. Johnson is the earliest known professional African American portraitist in the United States. He worked in Baltimore for over thirty years, painting the city's merchant class. This canvas dates from his peak period.

Look first at the three faces. Johnson gives each one a distinct structure despite his flat, stylized approach. The mother's hair is woven with a neoclassical floral wreath that signals the family's cultural ambitions. Then find the almost-erased sofa in the upper left. It anchors the scene in a real domestic parlour, not an abstract background.

The painting survives as a rare document. It records a prosperous family in the early republic, rendered by an artist who navigated a society that rarely allowed Black men to practice his profession. Johnson adapted European portrait conventions for local tastes and left behind a body of work that is still being rediscovered. Next time you see a dark-ground portrait from this era, check the corners.