Commissioned by Olaudah Equiano as the frontispiece to his autobiographical The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano , this portrait shows Equiano as a gentleman of letters. Equiano, sometimes known as Gustavus Vassa, was captured in Africa at the age of eleven and put to work for a number of different masters in America, the West Indies and Europe. It was while in the Americas that Equiano developed his skills as an entrepreneur, using his many voyages to turn a profit on goods he carried and resold. He was eventually able to purchase his freedom, and relocated to Britain where he emerged as the most prominent spokesman for the black community living in London. His Interesting Narrative , published in 1789, recounts his terrible experiences as a slave. Thus the frontspiece image of Equiano as a refined, learned, fashionable gentleman was meant to prove that former slaves and African descended people had the intelligence and capacity to rise above the degraded status so often attributed to blacks around the diaspora.