Who was the enslaved Black child depicted in famous 18th-century portrait? Researchers can now tell his story

A boy known as Jersey is pictured beside U.K. Royal Navy lieutenant Paul Henry Ourry in a portrait by 18th-century English painter Joshua Reynolds. (National Trust Images via CNN Newsource)

LONDON -- The depiction of an enslaved Black child known as “Jersey” by celebrated 18th-century portrait painter Joshua Reynolds has long puzzled art historians, raising questions about the boy’s identity and life — and whether or not he was even real.

Now, researchers in London say they finally have some answers — after scouring British government archives, original letters, ship captains’ logs and documents relating to crew members, according to the U.K.’s National Trust. The conservation charity carried out the research in collaboration with London’s National Gallery and the Royal Museums Greenwich.

In the painting, completed around 1748, the smartly-dressed boy — wearing a navy-blue coat, red waistcoat, an embroidered white turban and pearl earrings — is gazing up at young Royal Navy lieutenant, Paul Henry Ourry, who later became a captain.

Artists in the 18th century would often include a person of colour, who would sometimes be imaginary, in their portraits of wealthy white sitters to embellish the painting and highlight the high status of the main subject, according to the researchers.

So, “as tropes, we can’t always be sure that the person of colour, the Black sitter, is a real person,” Zoe Shearman, a property curator at the National Trust’s Saltram estate in the southwestern English city of Plymouth, told CNN on Friday. “So it’s really important to just begin this process of trying to evidence that, to forefront those stories.”

Within the archives, the researchers discovered various details relating to the boy’s name, including that “Jersey” was his surname and even a nickname that might have replaced a former name, the National Trust said in a statement Friday.

His full name is recorded as “Boston Jersey” in a crew record book, historical geographer Mark Brayshay, an emeritus professor at the U.K.’s University of Plymouth and a volunteer researcher at Saltram, said in the statement.

The boy might have been named Jersey because Ourry was born in St Helier — the capital of Jersey, one of the Channel Islands — after his Huguenot family fled persecution in France, according to the National Trust. The boy could have been named Boston because, before being in England, he lived in Boston, Massachusetts, although the reason for this first name is not certain.

Boston Jersey was, however, baptized under a different name, “George Walker,” as a teenager on July 30, 1752, and probably at a chapel in Westminster, London, the trust said.

The baptism certificate reads, “A Certain Black Boy Called Boston Jersey Baptised by the name of George Walker aged fifteen,” suggesting that the boy was around age 11 in the portrait.

In the early 1700s, it was routine to ship boys of African descent under 10 years of age to Britain to serve as domestic servants in affluent households.

George Walker was a name that “maybe perhaps he chose for himself, or it was a name that he had used earlier on,” Shearman said.

Naval career

Evidence for the boy being “a real person with a life story” is uncovered in records relating to his naval career, according to Shearman, who said Jersey traveled for more than five years with Lieutenant Ourry on three different ships.

A crew list from 1751 shows that on one of those ships, the HMS Monmouth, which Jersey boarded in December 1748, he was promoted to the rank of able seaman, up from ordinary seaman, according to the trust.

Instead of appearing second place on the list as in previous naval records, as Ourry’s servant, Jersey’s name was then appearing among those of nine other crew members who were due to be discharged “per paybook.”

“This could imply that Jersey was in receipt of Royal Navy pay, but it is also possible that the sums owing actually went to Ourry,” Brayshay said.

The last trace of Boston Jersey or George Walker was his discharge from a different ship, the HMS Deptford, in August 1753, probably in Port Mahon in Menorca, according to the National Trust.

‘A lot of changes’

Through scientific examinations of the portrait — including X-ray scans, infrared reflectography that uses radiation to see through paint layers, surface microscopy that assesses properties of a material’s surface, as well as analyses of paint samples — the researchers also identified features of Reynolds’ technique.

The depiction of the boy is unlikely to be accurate, according to the trust.

The researchers found that Ourry’s head was marked out in the artwork before it was properly painted, while Jersey’s head was not, suggesting that Jersey was not painted during a sitting, possibly because Jersey was regarded as subordinate, the trust said.

Reynolds initially sketched leafy branches for an embellished natural setting. However, he changed his mind and replaced that with a plain brown background, according to the trust.

Shearman said that “it was absolutely amazing” to see the original background of the painting and the changes Reynolds made.

The painter “made quite a lot of changes around where the two figures meet” in the portrait, and Jersey was “carrying a piece of red cloth,” she added.

The artwork will be on display in Saltram’s Saloon from Saturday until November 1, alongside its companion portrait, “Captain the Honourable George Edgcumbe.”

Ourry and Captain Edgcumbe were both from Plymouth, and Jersey served on the same ship with Ourry and Edgcumbe, Shearman said.

“It’s just the start of the research process,” Shearman said, adding that the researchers hope to find out more about Boston Jersey or George Walker in the years to come.

By Amarachi Orie, CNN