Free, Yet Still Property: A Portrait of Billy
Abstract/Description/Artist Statement
This is a pen and ink portrait grounded in archival research and historical interpretation. Created in response to the 1781 petition submitted to the Virginia Legislature by Manns Page who was the executor and son-in-law of John Tayloe, ESQ. The drawing centers on an enslaved man known as only Billy, who was found aboard a British warship and charged with treason for giving aid to the enemy. As property of The Tayloe Estate, which includes Mount Airy Plantation, Billy was denied legal personhood. Positioned between the ship and Mount Airy Plantation, the portrait situates Billy within the opposing forces that defined his life: displacement, captivity, and legal erasure.
Although sentenced to death, Billy was spared execution through an argument by former governor Thomas Jefferson that he could not commit treason because he was not recognized as a citizen, but as property. This legal reasoning preserved his life while denying his personhood. The work confronts this contradiction by restoring visual presence and individuality to a figure historically reduced to legal language.
Through detailed line work and symbolic composition, the drawing merges traditional portraiture with narrative landscape. The surrounding imagery functions as both context and constraint, framing the subject within inherited structures of power.
By combining portraiture with historical inquiry, Billy challenges eighteenth-century conventions that reserved portraiture for the wealthy and powerful. The work positions drawing as a form of witness and recovery, asserting art’s capacity to reclaim identity from archival silence.
Faculty Advisor/Mentor
Kyle Kogut
Faculty Advisor/Mentor Email
kkogut@odu.edu
Faculty Advisor/Mentor Department
Department of Art
College/School Affiliation
College of Arts & Letters
Student Level Group
Graduate/Professional
Presentation Type
Art/Creative Work
Free, Yet Still Property: A Portrait of Billy
This is a pen and ink portrait grounded in archival research and historical interpretation. Created in response to the 1781 petition submitted to the Virginia Legislature by Manns Page who was the executor and son-in-law of John Tayloe, ESQ. The drawing centers on an enslaved man known as only Billy, who was found aboard a British warship and charged with treason for giving aid to the enemy. As property of The Tayloe Estate, which includes Mount Airy Plantation, Billy was denied legal personhood. Positioned between the ship and Mount Airy Plantation, the portrait situates Billy within the opposing forces that defined his life: displacement, captivity, and legal erasure.
Although sentenced to death, Billy was spared execution through an argument by former governor Thomas Jefferson that he could not commit treason because he was not recognized as a citizen, but as property. This legal reasoning preserved his life while denying his personhood. The work confronts this contradiction by restoring visual presence and individuality to a figure historically reduced to legal language.
Through detailed line work and symbolic composition, the drawing merges traditional portraiture with narrative landscape. The surrounding imagery functions as both context and constraint, framing the subject within inherited structures of power.
By combining portraiture with historical inquiry, Billy challenges eighteenth-century conventions that reserved portraiture for the wealthy and powerful. The work positions drawing as a form of witness and recovery, asserting art’s capacity to reclaim identity from archival silence.