British School, 18th century

Saam (1922–2011) and Lily (1927–2016) Nijstad, The Hague, by 1974;

By whom sold ('Property from the Collection of Saam and Lily Nijstad'), London, Sotheby's, 7 July 2011, lot 119 (as Flemish School, mid–17th century);

Where acquired by the present collector.

G. Dusée, Een Afrikaanse seigneur uit de Goudkust, 1637, The Hague 1975;

The Grand Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, exhibition catalogue, New York 1974, p. 14, cat. no. 8, reproduced in color (as Albert Eckhout, dateable to 1637);

S. Nijstad, "Johan Maurits, Albert Eckhout en de gezant van Sonho", in Tableau 2 (1979–80), p. 2;

P.J.P. Whitehead and M. Boeseman, A portrait of Dutch 17th century Brazil: animals, plants and people by the artists of Johan Maurits of Nassau, Amsterdam 1989, pp. 172–73, reproduced in color plate 86b;

E. Kolfin, in E. Kolfin and E. Schreuder, Black is Beautiful: Rubens to Dumas, exhibition catalogue, Zwolle 2008, pp. 269–70, cat. no. 73, reproduced in color p. 256 (as anonymous, possibly Flemish, circa 1640–50);

R. Parker Brienen, Albert Eckhout. Visões do Paraíso Selvagem, Sao Paulo 2010, p. 335, reproduced (under rejected attributions to Albert Eckhout and datable to 1637).

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Grand Gallery: Sixth Internataional Exhibition Presented by C.I.N.O.A, 19 October 1974 – 5 January 1975, no. 8 (as Albert Eckhout, dateable to 1637);

Amsterdam, Nieuwe Kerk, Black is Beautiful: Rubens to Dumas, 26 July – 26 October 2008, no. 73 (as anonymous, possibly Flemish, circa 1640–50).

This powerful portrait is a rare and defiant depiction of a sitter of color in the early modern era. For decades this painting was attributed to various seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish artists, however recent scientific and iconographic re-evaluations have revised that opinion. This remarkable portrait was likely produced in Britain at the turn of the eighteenth century, a pivotal moment in the redressing of the nation's participation in the transatlantic slave trade that ultimately led to its abolition in 1833. Although the sitter's identity remains anonymous, some scholars have suggested Prince Peter Panah (d. circa 1794), son of the King of Cape Mesurado who was captured and brought to England in the late eighteenth century.

Acquired by the Dutch dealers and collectors Saam and Lily Nijstad by 1974, this portrait was previously considered to be of seventeenth-century Netherlandish origin. Much of its early publication history drew comparisons to works by the Groningen painter Albert Eeckhout (1610–1664/6), whose travels to South America between 1637 and 1643 produced several portraits and ethnographic studies of the Black individuals he encountered in Brazil, Chile, and further afield. This portrait's inclusion in the 2008 Black is Beautiful: Rubens to Dumas exhibition reignited scholarly discourse surrounding its authorship, introducing Flemish artists Jacob Jordaens (1625–1650/60) and Jan Boeckhorst (1604/5–1668) as potential candidates (see Exhibited). These scholarly opinions were reflected in the catalogue note when this portrait was last sold at Sotheby's London in 2011.

Pigment analysis undertaken since the 2011 sale has helped to establish the work's dating and place of production.¹ The presence of Prussian blue, a synthetic pigment made available to artists after 1704, places this painting into the eighteenthth century. Furthermore, evidence of this particularly finely ground pigment points to a date of execution at the very end of the eighteenth century and possibly into the early nineteenth century.

Although portraits of sitters of color are not unheard of in British art of the late-eighteenth century, this painting is exceptional for its quality and iconographic attributes. In contrast with other contemporary Black figures represented in Western art during this period, who were too often relegated to the backgrounds of portraits and genre scenes, this sitter takes center stage in his own pictorial narrative. The bold composition pays homage to the Grand Manner portraiture promoted in Britain over the course of the century. His right hand resting on the hilt of a sword, the subject stands proudly against an atmospheric, richly-colored sky that evokes the heat and exoticism of a foreign climate. Informally dressed in a white shirt with a blue sash around his waist, he wears lavish accouterments: large pearl earrings and a strand bracelet, a jeweled brooch, and a falchion sword with a flamboyant steel hilt. Traditionally used as indicators of wealth and status in Western European portraiture, these accessories possess deeper symbolic associations to the contemporary networks of global trade reliant upon colonization and exploitation; the pearl earrings are European in origin and the brooch and sword hilt have been interpreted as Portuguese. Due to his clothing and assertive demeanor, the sitter has sometimes been described in related literature as a slave trader however such an interpretation remains uncertain. One thing is clear, however: this is a powerful image of strength and defiance.

Attempts to identify the sitter have also produced several intriguing theories. One such theory suggests that this may be an unrecorded portrait of Prince Peter Panah, the captured son of the king of Cape Mesurado who was brought to Liverpool circa 1781 and educated there by slave-traders.² His story was brought to light by the Swedish-born economist, writer, Swedenborgian, and abolitionist Carl Bernhard Wadström (1746–1799).³ Panah eventually traveled to London where he was introduced to members of society and to Wadström's religious Swedenborgian community. This included, it is believed, the poet and painter William Blake (1757–1827), who is likely to have based his poem The Little Black Boy on Panah in the 1789 publication Songs of Innocence.⁴ Most significantly, Wadström was depicted alonside Panah in a double-portrait painted by Carl Frederik von Breda (1759–1818) in 1789 and exhibited at the Royal Academy in London that same year.⁵

Although a conclusive attribution remains elusive, several candidates have been proposed as the author of this work. One suggestion is the aforementioned Carl Frederik von Breda, the Swedish pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. (1723–1792) whose portraiture and approach to drapery painting are not too distant to the confident, vigorous brush strokes found here.6 Alice Insley, Curator of British Art circa 1730–1850 at the Tate, London, has drawn parallels between the light and coloring in the present painting and the works of Julius Caesar Ibbetson (1759–1817), who traveled as far as Java, Indonesia, but painted on a much smaller scale. Another comparison has been made to portraits by William Hodges, R.A. (1744–1797), whose likenesses of the Polynesian Omai (circa 1751–1779) are also widely celebrated for their importance and rarity.⁷

¹ Privately printed report commissioned by the present owner available upon request.

² See n. 1.

³ C.B. Wadström, An Essay on Colonization, Particularly Applied to the Western Coast of Africa, with Some Free Thoughts on Cultivation and Commerce, London 1794, vol. 2, p. 269.

⁴ M. Ankarsjö, William Blake and Religion: A New Critical View, Jefferson 2009, p. 123.

⁵ Oil on canvas, 88 x 67.5 cm, Stockholm, Nordic Museum, inv. no. NM.0061465.

⁶ For a particularly notable comparison see Carl Fredrik von Breda's 1802 portrait of Jean Martin de Ron; Oil on canvas, 72 x 62 cm., Helsinki, Finnish National Gallery, inv. no. S 97.

⁷ For an engraving of Hodges' lost portrait of Omai see www.portrait.gov.au/portraits/2010.111/omai; Another portrait of Omai, attributed to Hodges, is in the Hunterian Museum, London, inv. no. RCSSC/P 241.