1840

Chapman, John Gadsby. The Picture of the Baptism of Pocahontas. Washington, 1840. A small pamphlet by Chapman describing his painting for the U.S. Capitol rotunda (see previous entry). Chapman justifies the subject on political and religious grounds. She is, after all, "the great benefactress, the tutelary genius of the first successful Colony planted within the limits of the United States; who, when famine raged or conspiracy menaced it with swift destruction, ever interposed her benign and gentle influence to supply their wants and ward off their dangers." But, also, "She stands foremost in the train of those wandering children of the forest who have at different times -- few, indeed, and far between -- been snatched from the fangs of a barbarous idolatry, to become lambs in the fold of the Divine Shepherd." There's a helpful diagram identifying the characters in the painting.
[painting]