Blog Post #2

I had begun my blog with the Duchess of Portsmouth painting and the curiosity of the motivation behind these types of paintings having been commissioned as well as seeking a greater understanding of the relationship conveyed not only in this particular portrait but in similar ones as well. In Renaissance period Italy, it became a social convention amongst the elite aristocrats to feature well-dressed black servants, be it adolescent or adult, within their portraits as a sign of prestige and social standing. This only increased as black servants became increasingly popular and in demand throughout the sixteenth century. As such, the motif of the black servant within portraiture by the time of the Duchess of Portsmouth is certainly not a novel one. Within Kaplan’s article he discusses how many black servants often were prominently displayed within the portraits of the Queen of Sheba, which set a precedent for the Italian elite to want to copy the motif of the black servant portrayed with such a powerful figure. As well as, Titian’s Portrait of Laura Dianti (1520-25) bears a striking resemblance to the Duchess of Portsmouth, created over one hundred years later (1682). The general format of the wealthy, refined woman dressed in fine, beautiful garments and attended on their side, in the corner of the painting with a loving hand placed upon him or her, reminded me immediately of the Duchess of Portsmouth. Laura Dianti utilized the motif of the young black servant in her portrait as a sign of prestige, power, and a displaying of her rank as the wife of the Duke of Ferrara. The coloring of the women dressed in blue and yellow is even comparable and both of the servant children are dressed in exquisite clothing, more befitting a beloved companion rather than a slave, which may be interpreted as a method by which to reflect the wealth of their owners rather than as any sign of a close relationship.

            Even through interpreting the meaning behind The Duchess of Portsmouth through an American context, as it was popular within the colonies for masters to commission paintings with slaves, we see this painting in the light of a culture entrenched in the practice of slavery. In Simon Gikandi’s Slavery and the Culture of Taste, he argues that the use of portraying one’s black servant/slave in elegant clothing was utilized not only to indicate one’s standing but also to create a sense of continuity within the painting rather than a contrast between the two social stations, as I would have previously thought would be a desired component. We can not know the background of the slave girl portrayed as she is nameless and as such no specific research can be done on where this child originated from or any sense of the life she led before her enslavement. Which is to say that within the context of this painting she merely serves the purpose of adornment rather than any meaningful addition. This is similar to the concept of women being painted with the adornment of a pet or a caged bird in the background, as they often were within French portraiture. Even the string of pearls that the black page is adorned with, symbolically can be viewed as a collar, forever marking her as a slave. Despite appearing as a slave with a wealthy owner that can afford to take care of her, the presence of a collar at all still implies that this child is a human with limited freedom and opportunities nonetheless. The clothes additionally, similar in coloring to the Duchess’s were a stylistic device utilized in order to further indicate the ownership of the Duchess over this young child. Ultimately, the next step of my research would involve further delving in to information about similar portraits of the time in order to gain a better context of how within a modern (time for the painting) context this painting would be interpreted and viewed. My interest in further investigating this aspect of this painting is that as a viewer in the twenty-first century, my reaction to this subject could be vastly different or surprisingly similar to how people within the 1800's would have seen it.

References: 

Kaplan, Paul H. "Titian's 'Laura Dianti' and the Origins of the Motif of the Black Page in Portraiture : II." Antichita Viva (1982): 11-18. Web.

Gikandi, Simon. "Chapter 4." Slavery and the Culture of Taste. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2011. N. pag. Print.