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In which there is are "Indian" paintings of "African" people, 1791-8
I've posted before about people of African descent living in India, and the following watercolours are available elsewhere on the internet, but I've only seen them posted without any biographical details of the artist ( Read more... ) -
In which there are hearts and flowers, and out of context theatre
- Black British flower seller, circa 1790, who is a double amputee and was therefore probably a naval veteran. This man might have been delivering pre-ordered flowers but it's likely he was a street trader selling from his cart and participating in the tradition of "crying his wares", i.e. shouting or singing to tell potential customers what he had ( Read more... ) -
In which there are art and life, sailors and sharks
- Watson and the Shark, by John Singleton Copley, 1778, was painted as a commission for Brook Watson, aged 43, who lost his leg, aged 14, at Havana in the shark attack depicted in the painting. All the men on the boat are doing their best to save Watson but the man who is succeeding in throwing him a lifeline is the Black man with the rope. In the ( Read more... ) -
In which there are a disabled naval veteran, and two enslaved young scholars
- A disabled Black naval veteran depicted working as a crossing sweeper, on a print mass-produced in London, 1829. Images such as this had been popularised over a decade earlier.
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In which there is the hero of the hour, Battle of Jersey, 1781
The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781, by John Singleton Copley, painted 1783, is a painting commemorating the Battle of Jersey (1781) in which the British military, ably assisted by local Jersey militia, took control of the island back from French invaders (and one subcontinental Indian named Mir Sayyad). It gives us a story featuring at ( Read more... ) -
In which there are multiracial families in the 18th century
- Thinking about history, and art as propaganda: a pictorial guide to colourist/caste-ist racism by the Spanish in the Americas, 1700s, (WARNING for a couple of images of domestic violence) which was an extension of caste-ist racism against Muslim and Jewish converts to Christianity in early modern Spain. I've included four of the less obviously ( Read more... )
