Art and Artifice

Portrait of Pocahontas

Oil painting by Richard Norris Brooke begun 1889, completed 1907

This "Portrait of Pocahontas" by Richard Norris Brooke (1847–1920) is a controversial image of the famous Native American from the Tidewater area of Virginia. Born in 1596, she was given the name Amonute (the meaning of which is unknown), and her private tribal name was Matoaka, which is thought to mean “playful one between two streams” or “bright stream between two hills.” Her well-known nickname, Pocahontas, literally means “playful one.”

In 1614, she married English tobacco farmer John Rolfe and was baptized under the Christian name Rebecca, becoming known as Rebecca Rolfe. Her life was cut short when she died of illness in 1617 during a visit to England. She was buried on March 21, 1617, at St. George’s Church in Gravesend, Kent.

Brooke’s portrayal was painted 250 years after Pocahontas’s death and is based on the only known image made during her lifetime — a 1616 engraving by Simon van de Passe (1595–1647). This image had already been copied and used by other artists for portrayals of the famous woman. Brooke’s painting closely follows the original monochrome engraving by van de Passe, a skilled printmaker known for his portraits of royalty, explorers, and political figures. Van de Passe worked in Britain, Denmark, and in the Dutch Republic, where he was born.

Brooke’s painting is often criticized for its romanticized portrayal of Pocahontas as a Europeanized figure, depicting her with fairer skin than would be expected for a 16th-century Powhatan woman (a member of the Algonquian-speaking tribal groups). Her facial features in this painting have also been critiqued for being rendered as European, with modern scholarship instead expecting an Indigenous appearance.

In the portrait, she is portrayed as royalty — which, in fact, she was, as her father Wahunsenacawh was the chieftain of the Powhatan tribe, known by the title "Mamanatowick." He was also the main chief over approximately 30 other tribes within the Powhatan Confederacy. She is shown posing boldly for Brooke across the centuries. This presentation reflects not only the traditional style of noble portraiture, in which the famous are often depicted with an intense, direct gaze toward the viewer, but perhaps also alludes to the famous — though now only considered legendary — rescue story involving Pocahontas and explorer John Smith (1580–1631).

According to Smith’s writings, he was to be executed by Powhatan warriors when Pocahontas intervened, throwing herself across him just as he was about to be clubbed to death. Modern historians prefer to interpret the event, if it occurred at all, as a misunderstanding of an "adoption" ritual into the Powhatan community. The story circulated long after Pocahontas' death and there has been no other evidence of this tale appearing from any other eye witness report.

The copperplate inscription made by de Passe reads:

"Matoaka als Rebecca daughter to the mighty Prince Powhatan Emperor of Attanoughkomouck alias Virginia converted and baptized in the Christian faith, and wife to the Englishman Thomas Rolfe."

Some related links:

Pocahontas Souvenir stand statue (1987) at Library of Congress

1902 Portrait of Pocahontas - Library of Congress - this image is directly based upon the 1616 engraving by Simon van de Passe.

Original Page Jan 23, 2019 | Updated June 19, 2025