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40. Selected image: page 31. Source: Stearns, Junius Brutus. "The Death of Pocahontas." 1848. (William M. S. Rasmussen and Robert S. Tilton, Pocahontas: Her Life and Legend. Richmond: Virginia Historical Society, 1994. 31.) Say Rasmussen and Tilton: "[Stearns] presents a fully Anglicized figure who had been transformed from her savage origins and thereby made worthy of Christian salvation," closing the circle begun with her baptism (Chapman 1840). "Stearns's stunning reconstruction of a scene for which no record survives is a remarkable display of history painting. He conceives a setting that is believable as provincial England. He paints muted paneled walls as a foil for lush fabrics that call to mind her social achievement. He juxtaposes English and Indian figures to suggest the bringing together of cultures that was the meaningful accomplishment of Pocahontas. Her youthful appearance, her beauty, and the distraught postures of her husband and son establish the pathos of the event."
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