Who is Pocahontas?

These two portraits of Pocahontas are in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection. Take a close look at both and consider the similarities and differences between them. By looking closely at these depictions of Pocahontas, we can compare and contrast how different artists represented her as well as consider the contexts in which these two likenesses were created. 

What are the similarities between these two objects? Consider Pocahontas’s physical features, clothing, and other details, such as her accessories.   

Both portraits depict Pocahontas in the guise of an affluent Englishwoman:  Her curled hair is tucked into a style of hat fashionable in seventeenth-century England, and she wears a stiff lace collar and layers of ornate European clothing while holding an ostrich feather fan. 

In both portraits, she looks directly at the viewer.  

Both include inscriptions that proclaim Pocahontas’s elite lineage, advertise her conversion to Christianity, and marriage to an English colonist. 

What are the differences between these two objects?  

Consider her features, particularly her face. The painter has lightened Pocahontas’ skin, softened her cheekbones and other features and utilizes color to downplay her Native heritage.    



In the painting, her costume seems to be made of a soft, velvety fabric, while in the engraving, her ornately embroidered clothing appears stiffer, almost like armor.  

One of these images is based on life, and the other is a copy. By looking closely at both portraits, can you tell which is which? How do you know? 

After her marriage to John Rolfe, the Virginia Company was eager to publicize Pocahontas’s apparent assimilation to potential investors. She traveled to England in 1616. While there, Pocahontas sat for her portrait, which was engraved by Simon van de Passe.   

This print of Pocahontas was printed in the Bazilioologia, A Booke of Kings (1618), a collection of portraits of notable people from the day. This print of Pocahontas is the only known life likeness of Pocahontas ever created. Listen to curator and author Paul Chaat Smith speak more about why Pocahontas was included in the Book of Kings.  

Sometime later, a painting was made by an unidentified artist based on the engraving for Pocahontas’ European descendants.    

Pocahontas took ill and died nine months after arriving in England. Over the next 400 years, her brief life would be embellished and many fabricated legends, including a fictional romance with John Smith, transformed her into a national myth. 

The painting inscription has a key clue, which helps identify it as a copy. It notes her marriage to an English colonist, but misidentified him as Thomas Rolff (her son, rather than her husband).