WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has acquired a miniature portrait of Kinheche, a Chickasaw dignitary, the foundation said Tuesday.
The foundation explained that the portrait is exceptional because early pictures of Native Americans are rare, and the painting is of a named sitter, not just a general likeness (which was common at the time).
The portrait was painted by an artist named Caroline Dudley (1802-1832) in Franklin, Tennessee. She would have created it in August 1830, when she was 28 years old, the foundation said.
She and her father, Guilford Dudley, were among the spectators invited to witness the treaty summit between President Andrew Jackson and the Chickasaw Nation.
The painting is 2 and 3/4 inches by 2 and 1/4 inches.
“The Portrait of Kinheche provides a compelling human face that will be an invaluable aid in telling the stories of Indigenous peoples during the early 19th century," said Ronald Hurst, the senior vice president for education and historic resources and the foundation's chief curator.
