Portrait of a Man in a Red Suit
18th-century oil painting
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Portrait of a Man in a Red Suit (formerly known as Portrait of an African) is an 18th-century oil painting of a Black man donated to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum by art dealer Percy Moore Turner in 1943. The artist and sitter are unknown.[1]
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The earliest provenance is a sale by Christie's in 1931.[1] From 2006 until June 2023, it was attributed to Allan Ramsay, created c. 1757–1760 and believed to be of a young Ignatius Sancho.[2][3][4] Before that, it was proposed in the 1960s to have depicted Olaudah Equiano and to have been painted by Joshua Reynolds c. 1780 with the title Portrait of a Negro Man.[5][6] Historian Stephen Davidson claimed that the painting depicts Thomas Peters during his 1791 visit to London, adding that it was the only portrait of a Black Loyalist known to exist.[7] The painting featured as part of the "Art Everywhere" initiative in the UK in August 2013.[8]
