The Man in the Knit Cap

"By the advice of a friend, who explained to him the nature of a bank, he purchased shares to this amount in that of Columbia [Bank of Georgetown], in his own name, the interest of which now affords him a comfortable support. Though more than eighty years old, he walks erect, is active, cheerful, and good-natured. His history is known to several respectable families, who treat him with attention. On Christmas, his great delight is to fire a gun under their windows at break of day, which is intended as a signal for his dram. When young, he was the best swimmer ever seen on the Potomac; and though his muscles are now somewhat stiffened by age, he still finds pleasure in his exercise. Fond of conversation, he often, in broken language, thus relates the story of his life, which we insert as a specimen of curious dialect: -- 'Olda massa been tink he got all de work out of a Yaro bone. He tell a Yaro, go free Yaro; you been work nuff for me, go work for you now . . . Yaro work a soon -- a late -- a hot -- a cold. Sometime he sweat -- sometime he blow a finger.'"

In 1819, eight years after the Warden interview, Peale came looking for Yarrow. Peale had come to Washington to paint President James Monroe for the collection of presidential portraits at Peale's museum in Philadelphia. Vice President Daniel Tompkins, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, Secretary of the Treasury William Crawford, House Speaker Henry Clay and a bevy of senators, congressmen and commodores also sat for the painter. Most paid for the privilege.

Money was not what attracted Peale to Yarrow. The elderly Yarrow could hardly afford someone of Peale's stature. Besides, Peale kept the painting, so he obviously didn't charge.

Peale seemed interested in Yarrow for two reasons. First, Peale fancied himself a scientist as well as an artist. He had studied longevity and, for a time, theorized that human beings could live to be 200. Peale's diary suggests he thought Yarrow proved his theory: "I heard of a Negro who is living in Georgetown said to be 140 years of age . . . He is comfortable in his Situation having Bank stock and lives in his own house . . . I propose to make a portrait of him should I have the opportunity." Peale later revised Yarrow's age downward, but only by six years.

Second, although Peale once owned slaves, he had come to oppose slavery and may have been hoping for an opportunity to paint a prosperous African American to make a point about racial equality. In 1810, Peale's son, Raphaelle, had painted a dignified portrait of the Rev. Absalom Jones, an African American minister. A portrait of a man like Yarrow, who had gone from slavery to relative wealth, would complement Raphaelle's work.

But the real Yarrow might not be quite the man you see in the Peale painting, at least not if you compare it with Simpson's portrait. Simpson taught art at Georgetown College and earned money by doing portraits. He painted Yarrow in 1822, just three years after Peale did, but Yarrow looks much older and far less prosperous. The Simpson painting was called "an admirable likeness" by the Rev. Thomas Bloomer Balch in an 1859 lecture. Balch's opinion deserves weight. He grew up in Georgetown and succeeded his father as minister of the Presbyterian church two blocks from Yarrow's house.

There is another reason the Peale painting may be too flattering. An inspection of Yarrow's clothing shows that he is wearing what appear to be the same blue jacket and red waistcoat in both sittings. In the Peale painting, Yarrow has an expensive leather coat draped over his shoulders. It contributes to a look of achievement and wealth. He isn't wearing it in the Simpson portrait. Perhaps the coat belonged not to Yarrow but rather to the wealthy artist who, according to his diary, traveled around Washington in the winter in a horse-drawn cab. Since he went to Yarrow's house in Georgetown in January, he may have put his own coat over Yarrow's shoulders for artistic purposes.

Washington was a very different city then, one that could be terrifying for African Americans. Men and women were bought and sold as slaves every day. A freedman might be indistinguishable from a slave on the street, and any difference might be unimportant to slave traders. Based on a manumission paper first filed in Maryland, Yarrow was freed in 1796 and bought his house four years later, but he was an exception. The 1800 census counted 400 "free persons of color or Indians not taxed" and 2,072 slaves out of a total Georgetown population of 8,144.

Peale's diary tells us more about the man. "I spend [spent] the whole day & not only painted a good likeness of him, but also the drapery & background." The next morning, Peale went back to Yarrow's house to touch up the painting and to investigate further. His diary continues:

"Yarrow owns a House & lotts and is known by most of the Inhabitants of Georgetown & particularly by the Boys who are often teazing him which he takes in good humour. It appears to me that the good temper of the [m]an has contributed considerably to longevity. Yarrow has been noted for sobriety & a chearfull conduct, he professes to be a mahometan, and is often seen & heard in the Streets singing Praises to God -- and conversing with him he said man is no good unless his religion comes from the heart . . . The acquaintance of him often banter him about eating Bacon and drinking Whiskey -- but Yarrow says it is no good to eat Hog -- & drink whiskey is very bad. I retouched his Portrait the morning after his first setting to mark what rinkles & lines to characterise better his Portrait."

Whatever Yarrow told Peale, he wasn't 134 years old in 1819. He was in his eighties. This more plausible age comes from two sources. First, after Yarrow's owner died, the 1796 inventory of his estate listed Yarrow's age as 60. Second, when David Warden visited Georgetown in 1811 for his book, he was told that Yarrow was older than 80. This may not have been the only instance of Yarrow pulling Peale's leg. He told Peale that he didn't drink whiskey, but Gen. Mason had told Warden that Yarrow fired a gun on Christmas morning as a signal for his "dram," by which Warden presumably meant alcohol.

After finishing the portrait, Peale went to the bank in which Yarrow owned stock "to see some of the family [who] had knowledge of Him for many years & whose Ancesters had purchased him from the Ship that brought him from Afreca -- a Mr. Bell in a Bank directed me to an ancient Widow who had set him free."