Blog Post 2

Blog Post 2

For my last blog post I wrote about the painting Duchess of Portsmouth by Pierre Mignard.  My post asked questions pertaining to the African child leaning up against the Duchess.  I wanted to learn more about her significance and the role she played pertaining to status for the Duchess. While studying this I looked at other painting of Africans in European portraiture, particularly French portraiture.  In doing so I furthered my question to be why did women of wealth choose to be painted in the company of slaves?

These artworks display slaves as objects of luxury.  They are meant to show off the wealth and position of their owners and their presence in the painting makes it all the more valuable (Tuan).  “Africans dark skin, exotic appearance, accent and their scarcity, particularly in France, likely all made them desirable attendants; their status symbols, highlighting the wealth, beauty, desirability and power of their white owners.” (Palmer 243)  This can be seen in the painting by Jean-Marc Nattier of Mademoiselle de Clermont, Princess of the Blood, as a Sultana, Served by some Slaves painted in 1730.  Mademoiselle de Clermont sits with a pool of water at her feet, surround by various African attendants who gaze at her while she confronts the viewer.  An image like this would attract no questions because it was simply what was expected. 

These portraits of the wealthy white Europeans with people of color exploded in increasing popularity.  When looking at these portraits it is women who dominate the genera of this portraiture.  This genre of portraiture is tied to beauty and power. The race of the salves was a social marker, and these portraits shaped the public perception and impression of these women (Palmer 244).  They created their own image and this was the one they selected. Hierarchy was also created in these portraits by placing an African servant in the image.  Their visible wealth and beauty clearly place them above their attendants created social hierarchy.  Although African servants can be found within various portraits the most common is in women’s portraiture.  Therefore this suggests there was a motive for women having themselves portrayed in this manner.  First off, portraying Africans in their portraiture became a primary social marker.  Given the limitations in how women could intervene in public conversation, portraits emerge as one genre in which elite women could shape public perception of them, while still staying within the restraints of gender roles (Palmer 244).           

For example commissioning art, especially portraits were well within the bounds of acceptable roles for women of high status.  By being patrons of the arts they were well versed in the power of having paintings mold the public’s impression of them.  This impression, which was formed by the public, was not only of the elite women but also of the African slaves in the portraits.  For example Mademoiselle de Clermont portrays herself in a position of power by having not only one, but multiple African servants surround, tend to her and gaze at her, while she pays no attention to them and only engages with the viewer. 

David W. Cohen and Jack P. Greene, Neither Slave nor Free: The Freedman of African Descent in the Slave Societies of the New World (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972), pp. 134–71 

Yi-Fu Tuan, Dominance and Affection: The Making of Pets (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984), pp. 137–8.

Jennifer L. Palmer, ‘The Princess Served by Slaves: Making Race Visible through Portraiture in Eighteenth-Century France’ Gender & History, Vol.26 No.2 August 2014, pp. 242–262.