Nathaniel Jocelyn

Nathaniel Jocelyn (January 31, 1796 – January 13, 1881) was an American painter and engraver best known for his portraits of abolitionists and of the slave revolt leader Joseph Cinqué.

Nathaniel Jocelyn was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of clockmaker and engraver Simeon Jocelin and Luceanah Smith. He trained under his father as a watchmaker, later taking up drawing, engraving, and oil painting. He studied engraving with George Munger around 1813; they published at least one print together under the name Jocelin & Munger. In 1817, Munger painted one of the few known portraits of Jocelyn.

The inventor Eli Whitney also helped to foster his career, and in 1820 he briefly worked in the studio of Samuel F. B. Morse. Later, in 1829–30, he furthered his education by touring Europe with Morse and the architect Ithiel Town.

During the War of 1812, at the age of 16, he volunteered for the Governor's Foot Guard, which defended the city of Madison, Connecticut.

In 1818, he married Sarah Atwater Plant of New Haven. They had six daughters and a son, Isaac, who died at the age of six.

In 1817, Jocelyn moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where helped set up the Hartford Graphic and Bank Note Engraving Company. From 1820 to 1822 he lived in Savannah, Georgia, where he established himself as a painter of portraits and miniatures. On returning to New Haven in 1822, he continued as a portraitist. He was an abolitionist, and among his sitters were several notable abolitionists, including William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison declared that Jocelyn's portrait was a "tolerable likeness," but remarked that "those who imagine that I am a monster, on seeing it will... deny its accuracy, seeing no horns about the head."

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