Portrait of a Freed Black Slave - Ayuba Suleiman Diallo

The son of a Fulbe Muslim religious cleric, Diallo was born in a town called Boonda in the Senegambia region of West Africa. His family was of high status and wealthy and Dallio was therefore well educated, speaking not only his native language, but Arabic and later, English.

In 1731 Diallo was on a trading mission on behalf of his father when he was captured by slave traders and transported on a British ship, the Arabella, to America.

This incident is tinged with irony, for Diallo was also a slave trader.

Looking to sell slaves to a Captain Pike, Diallo and Pike were unable to agree on a price for Diallo’s slaves. Eventually Diallo managed to exchange the slaves for two cows to another trader.  But Diallo was himself captured on his way home and sold to the very same Captain Pike.  Once on board the Arabella, his beard, an important attribute of his Islamic identity, was shaved off.

Diallo spent twelve months enslaved on a tobacco plantation at Kent Island, Maryland. His situation was aggravated by his devotion to his prayer life which meant he would stop work to pray five times a day.  He attempted to escape, often running into the forest to find solitude and release from the hard physical labour.

Eventually, his escape attempts led to his imprisonment and it was while he was incarcerated that he met the man who would be his salvation.

Thomas Bluett was an English lawyer and missionary.  He became aware of Diallo’s intellect and scholarship when he heard how the captured slave was not only deeply devoted to his Muslim faith, but could also read and write.  These attributes, together with Diallo’s charm and humour, created a link that bridged the perceived cultural divide between the two men.  

Bluett would go on to write a biography of Diallo which you can freely access here.

The result was that Diallo was once more on board ship - but this time he was on his way to England with Thomas Bluett.

For a time Diallo stayed with Bluett until the Royal African Company provided him with free lodgings at Africa House -  but it wasn’t long before this striking and charismatic man became the toast of scholars and aristocrats. 

He was soon translating Arabic manuscripts, making three transcriptions of the Qur’an from memory for Sir Hans Sloane.  He was presented at Court to King George II and Queen Caroline.   Regarded by the aristocracy as an ‘African gentleman’ he was elected a member of the Gentleman’s Society of Spalding.

Technically, however, Diallo was still a slave, but through the raising of public funds his freedom was eventually obtained. 

Naturally, such an unusual and distinguished guest as Diallo would be encouraged to sit for his portrait.  The artist chosen for this prestigious task was William Hoare of Bath, an established society portrait painter who became a founding member of the Royal Society. 

But initially Diallo was having none of it! As a Muslim, Diallo protested that it was against his faith to have his likeness portrayed, for to him pictures were in danger of becoming objects of worship. Hoare eventually managed to reassure Diallo that the portrait would be regarded as a reminder of him and his visit to England and Diallo was persuaded to sit

The finished portrait is strikingly simple, yet beautiful, showing Diallo, by his own choice, resplendent in his traditional turban and robes and with a copy of the Qu’ran around his neck in a protective pouch. Ayuba Suleimann Diallo gazes out a little beyond the viewer with the air of a serene, compelling and equal human being.

How would such a portrait have struck the eighteenth century viewer?

It may well have begun to break down the assumptions that all victims of the slave trade were ignorant semi-human beings incapable of self-awareness. For those who were beginning to call for an end to the slave trade, this work may certainly have boosted their cause, slowly chipping away at the well-ingrained prejudices.

However, some may have seen Diallo as the exception to the rule, a being who was like the later patronising Victorian equivalent of the ‘deserving poor’ - at a disadvantage certainly compared to his white patrons, but sharing the same concept of one God, indeed sent to England by God, blessed with the desire to work and study, and sharing their business interests concerning the slave trade.

When he returned to Africa, Diallo resumed his slave trading activities, working for the English Royal African Company.  And just as the English aristocracy had saved him from slavery, Diallo negotiated the freedom of a number of Muslim’s who had been sold into slavery - his own slaves he regarded as ‘infidels’.

In the eighteenth century slavery was regarded, on the whole, as a legitimate business enterprise. Such reasoning was justified by moral values that seem strange to our modern sensibilities, especially when we learn that there were complex variants of these values amongst  both British  and African elites.  

Enlightenment values gathered momentum in Europe. Black voices calling for an end to the slave trade became louder.  Those  whites who  recognised slavery for the cruelty and suffering it inflicted on fellow human beings began to demand its end.

As a representation of the social period when this work was produced, for the beauty and sensitive handling of the subject matter itself and the story it tells of our human journey, this an extremely important work of art.   

It has so much to say to the viewer - and will strike at the heart of each one of us as individuals when we stand before it, because we have all been shaped to some degree  by the legacy of slavery.

The work was bought at Christie’s in 2009 by the Qatar Museums Authority and is generously on loan to the National Portrait Gallery in London.

It is at present touring and, at the time of writing, can be seen at:

South Shields Museum and Art Gallery - until 9th March 2013 - this exhibit has concluded but I think it is interesting to see why this gallery was chosen to exhibit the portrait.

It was  exhibited with a selection from the Gallery’s own archives, focussing on faith and identity. The town is home to a well-established Muslim community.

New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester - (6th April - 30th June 2013)

The Gallery will focus on changing demographics of the local community, hoping to develop a sustainable relationship with the Somali community.

After this, the portrait returns to the National Portrait Gallery. Eventually it is expected to return to Qatar.

Sources:

“Face of Freedom” by Bonnie Greer in Art Quarterly, Spring 2011.

Press Release: National Portrait Gallery, Wednesday 7 July 2010 Ayuba Suleiman Diallo Appeal

 Voyages database: Ayuba Suleiman Diallo and Slavery in the Atlantic World.

Copyright: K. Duffy