"Your Most Obedient and Faithful Servant": Peregrine Tyam and the Representation of Black Sitters in Early Modern British Portraiture

In 1692 a young Black boy known as Peregrine Tyam was painted alongside Mary Lawley in a portrait commissioned by her husband, John Verney, to mark their marriage. It is very likely that Peregrine Tyam was enslaved, as indicated by the silver collar he wears around his neck in the picture. In 1689 he was baptised at around six years of age on the Verney family estate at Middle Claydon church, and he lived with John Verney until his death in 1707. By the end of the seventeenth century, the depiction of a Black attendant alongside a White sitter was a fashionable format in British portraiture, directly reflecting Britain's rise to dominance in the transatlantic trade in enslaved African people and the growing number of enslaved people living and working in elite British households. The portrait of Peregrine Tyam and Mary Lawley is a rare example of a picture of this type where the identity of the Black sitter is known and is accompanied by a body of documentary evidence that allows for the partial reconstruction of their biography. In this case, it includes a letter written by Tyam himself that provides an even rarer glimpse into the experience of a young Black man in early modern England in his own voice. The depiction of Tyam in the portrait served a symbolic purpose, sending a message to the viewer about the Verney family's status and John Verney's involvement with the Royal African Company. However, this article argues that Tyam's portrait should be understood as more than a symbolic stock representation. Analysed alongside documentary sources from the Verney family archive, it provides us with an insight into Tyam's life with the family. The portrait is evidence that in some cases it is possible to restore the identities of the numerous unknown Black sitters in early modern British portraits, along with their voices and a sense of their experiences.