Unknown Maker, English

Kunneepaumwuw ut Nahhiggananeuck aukéashut.

You are standing on Indigenous lands.

The man in this painting lived in the same era and region as some of colonists seen in this gallery. Dated to about 1700, this portrait depicts Ninigret, a sachem-or leader-of the Niantic/Narragansett peoples. His headpiece, necklace, and earrings are made of beads from quahog shells, known today as wampum. Ninigret is dressed in a breechcloth, leggings, shoes, and cape made of animal hides. High moccasins-from the Narragansett word mohkussunash -- protect his legs from the underbrush. He carries a scepter and wears a sheath with a knife.

This painting is significant because it presents a colonial-era Eastern woodland coastal Indigenous leader largely as he was, without the biases and stereotypes seen in later portraits of American Indians. English and other European artists creating images from the “new world” did frequently take creative license, however. The background terrain does not represent the local landscape. Colonists wrongly equated sachems with European kings, so the artist presented Ninigret as royalty, with a draped cape and scepter, although it is highly unlikely he would have had either.

Ninigret (ca. 1610-1677), also known as Janemo, was born into a long line of Niantic and Narragansett leaders. His mother was sister to two Narragansett sachems, Miantanomi and Canonicus. At different points in his life, Ninigret served as a sachem for the Niantic and the Narragansett peoples. This was a tumultuous time, as the European colonists occupying the region brought disease and war and displaced Indigenous communities. These conflicts culminated in 1675-1676 with King Philip’s War, which ended Indigenous control.

Today some academics believe this portrait depicts Pequot leader Robin Cassacinamon (d. 1692), but for more than 400 years the portrait has been identified as Ninigret, and to the Narragansett people it will remain as such. Regardless of the subject’s identity, this image offers an important portrayal of a sachem before westward expansion and the birth of the Plains stereotype of the American Indian.

-Lorén Spears (Narragansett / Niantic)

Executive Director, Tomaquag Museum

For decades, this painting of a Native American sachem (chief or leader) was misidentified as a portrait of Niantic leader Ninigret II; recent scholarship indicates that the subject may be Robin Cassacinamon, an influential Pequot leader. Cassacinamon was known to have been a friend of the Winthrop family of Connecticut, through whom this painting descended. The tribe originally occupied the basin of the Pequot River (now Connecticut’s Thames River), but the artist generalizes the setting in an idyllic manner. The stylization of the landscape, along with classical pose of the sachem, suggests that the artist, although nominally trained, was familiar with European art.

For decades, this painting of a Native American sachem (chief or leader) was misidentified as a portrait of Ninigret II. Recent scholarship indicates that the subject may be Robin Cassacinamon, the most influential Pequot leader in the decades following the Pequot War of 1637-38. Cassacinamon was known to have been a friend of the Winthrop family of Connecticut, through whom this painting descended. The tribe originally occupied the basin of the Pequot River (now Connecticut’s Thames River), some 250 square miles bordering Long Island Sound. The word “Pequot” may be translated as "People of the shallow waters." They numbered about 8,000 just prior to European contact, which began in the early 1600s.

Although the portrait pre-dates the other works in this exhibition by more than a century, it has been included for its importance as an early representation of an historical Native American. Native Americans often appear in 19th-century American art as elements of a narrative (see Alonzo Chappell’s Landing of Roger Williams 1636, nearby) or as romanticized symbols of their union with nature (see Thomas Cole’s Landscape above the mantle). The artist is unknown, but it is likely that he was British or European and had received nominal training. The landscape may be a generalized “idyllic” site, copied from printed material or from another painting. The artist may also have relied on other sources for the stance of the figure, but the historically accurate costume suggests that the likeness is an intentional representation of a significant Native American individual.