Large Canoe and Village Scene

Possibly Liberia? mid-19th cent. #04 in collection Citation: Drawings of Western Africa, circa 1820-1850, Accession #14357. Special Collections. University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, VA Contains images from the coastal areas of West Africa including Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Gold Coast, the Bight of Benin, the Cameroons and Corisco Bay. Both the life and customs of the Africans, and incidents and places associated with the slave trade are rendered in detail, with penciled annotations. Scenes depict slave factories including Cape Coast Castle and Elmina; a palisaded village; dwellings for Liberated Africans; Kru people; locations and structures of various Christian missions including the house of Jacob Rambo; African customs including execution of a witch; a burial, and mourning; occupations; dwellings; weapons, furniture, baskets, and other implements of daily life; edible plants; and maps and topographical drawings. Drawings (which are unsigned and undated), apparently by at least two artists, have been attributed, on the basis of uncertain evidence, to John Revey, a freeborn African American, who served several mission stations under the auspices of the American Colonization Society. Revey, who died in 1842, did have drafting abilities and is credited with two maps currently in the Maryland Historical Society. Internal evidence on at least two of the drawings indicate dates later than 1849 and 1850. Three of the drawings have been printed as engravings in missionary accounts. 32 drawings : watercolor, crayon, ink; 58 x 76cm. and smaller.