A previously lost painting by the late William H. Dorsey “representing 19th-century Black wealth and high culture in Philadelphia” was purchased for $10 at New Life Thrift in Glenside, WHYY reported today.

The untitled watercolor (pictured above) is an 1864 landscape and “is believed to be the only existing painting by the artist from a prominent Black family who once displayed works at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.” According to the story, Andy Robbins, who purchased it in the summer of 2023, deciphered the signature and Googled the name. Advised to seek an appraisal, he instead looked into donating his new find.

After posting the painting on Instagram, Robbins was contacted by 1838 Black Metropolis who recognized Dorsey by name and recommended he give it to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

“She thought that it would be a really good place for it to be,” Robbins told WHYY. “They have been focusing their acquisitions on this era of Black Philadelphia. Before I found this painting, I knew nothing about it whatsoever. It really opened my eyes to a whole piece of history that I wouldn’t have thought about before.”

William Dorsey co-founded the American Negro Historical Society and “was also an avid collector, turning two rooms of his house on Dean Street, now South Camac Street, into a museum of African American history and art. That house, which no longer stands, was two blocks from where the Historical Society of Pennsylvania now sits,” WHYY wrote. His father, Thomas, escaped slavery in Maryland with his two brothers in 1836 and arrived in Philadelphia through the Underground Railroad.

The painting is now being shown as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s current exhibition of new acquisitions, WHYY said. More details in their video below:

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Photos: Historical Society of Pennsylvania,