Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam

Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam is an oil painting by John Greenwood made between 1752-1758. It depicts a humorous scene in a tavern in Surinam, with many merchants and sea captains from Rhode Island enjoying themselves. It has been described as the first genre painting in American art history. The work was commissioned by the subjects while visiting the important trading ports in Surinam in the 1750s, probably for their own amusement. At the time, Greenwood was living in Surinam.

John Greenwood painted various prominent Rhode Island merchants in Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam, 1755

The subjects in the painting include Nicholas Cooke, sitting at the table smoking a pipe, speaking to Esek Hopkins;the sleeping man next to him is possibly one of his brothers either Stephen Hopkins^[1] or William Hopkins Jr^[2]);; a man then pours a drink (perhaps rum punch) from a porcelain bowl onto a man's head who has passed out in a chair (possibly this is Joseph Wanton^[3] or Esek and Stephen Hopkins father William Hopkins Sr^[4]); John Jenckes brother-inlaw Ambrose Page is shown vomiting into the sleeping man's pocket.^[5] Cooke and Wanton were both later Governors of Rhode Island, Esek Hopkins was a commander in the Continental Navy from 1775 to 1778, and Founding Father Stephen Hopkins signed the US Declaration of Independence in 1776. Greenwood has also included a self-portrait at the right showing himself vomiting in the doorway while John Janckes is holding a candle. "The man with his back to the table is Daniel Jenckes."^[6] Two sailors are dancing, possibly "Nicholas Power [giving] a dancing lesson to young Godfrey Malbone,"^[7] while others are sleeping, smoking pipes, or playing cards. Among the white merchants are several dark-skinned servants, possibly slaves, wearing few clothes and carrying drinks in large bowls.^[8][9]

The painting was owned by the Jenckes family in Providence, Rhode Island from the 1750s until the 20th century.^[10] It was bought in 1948 by the Saint Louis Art Museum, in St. Louis, Missouri. It is painted in oils on bed ticking and measures 37.75 by 75 inches (95.9 cm × 190.5 cm).