A Muslim among the founding fathers

Charles Willson Peale’s Yarrow Mamout

Charles Willson Peale, Portrait of Yarrow Mamout (Muhammad Yaro), 1819, oil on canvas, 61 x 50.8 cm (Philadelphia Museum of Art). Speakers: Dr. Carol Eaton Soltis, Philadelphia Museum of Art and Dr. Steven Zucker

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Peale, Yarrow Mamout

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Key points

  • Charles Willson Peale established the first public museum in America in 1784. It began as a portrait collection of Revolutionary War heroes (Peale had served with George Washington), but quickly expanded to include portraits of national heroes and other notable figures, along with scientific specimens, cultural artifacts, and objects of historical interest.
  • In 1819, Peale traveled to Washington, D.C. to paint the portrait of President James Monroe and to raise funds for his museum. While there, he also completed this portrait of Yarrow Mamout, who was reputed to be 134 years old. The painting was displayed alongside portraits of famous men, celebrating the perseverance and vibrant personality of the sitter. When the portrait collection was sold in 1854, however, Mamout was misidentified as George Washington’s servant.
  • Mamout had been forcibly brought to America from Guinea in West Africa, and sold a slave. He was freed many years later, in 1796. He was a devout Muslim (Muslims may have represented 10% of the total slave population in the United States in the 18th century). Yarrow eventually owned his own home and invested in bank stock to ensure a retirement income. Peale (the painter) would have been familiar with slavery, but also the rise of a free black population in Philadelphia; he depicts Yarrow Mamout as a man of dignity and wisdom.

Go deeper

See this painting in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Learn even more about this painting

Find out more about Yarrow Mamout

Compare Peale’s portrait to another depiction of Yarrow Mamout

Learn more about the slave trade and Yarrow Mamout’s life

Learn about the archaeological dig to explore Yarrow Mamout’s former home in Georgetown

See more about Charles Willson Peale and his museum

More to think about

As Peale’s portrait of Yarrow Mamout demonstrates, works of art are often misinterpreted and misidentified, leading to a false impression of the historical past. This reminds us that official histories are often incomplete or even wrong. What questions can we ask of objects and historical narratives in order to make sure we are being fair to the past?

Explore the diverse history of the United States through its art. Seeing America is funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Alice L. Walton Foundation.