Open IIIF manifest What is IIIF IIIF viewers

African woman and man playing a tambourine and calabash

Maker

(artist)
ca. 1630 - 1703 (Life dates)

Title

Date of Production

1676 - 1682

Medium

black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, on laid paper, with brown ink framing lines, incised for transfer

Dimensions

Height: 27.3 cm
Width: 17.9 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.4143

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

The people depicted here, playing music and dancing, are enslaved Africans in Brazil, which had been colonised by the Dutch at the time this drawing was made. Francoys Dancx travelled to Brazil and Indonesia in 1676, making drawings for engravings to illustrate Johan Nieuhof’s book Joan Nieuhofs gedenkwaerdige zee- en lantreize door verscheidene gewesten von Oost Indien (known in English as Voyages & Travels to the East Indies, 1653-1670), published in the Netherlands in 1682. This crude and caricatural portrayal of enslaved people as simple-minded and content with their lot is characteristic of the type of imagery used for centuries to justify the violence of colonialism.

Provenance

J.H.J. Mellaert (London); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, n.d.; Witt Bequest 1952

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: centre: Arms of Amsterdam (can't see any countermarks to help identify exact version).

Inscription: Recto: lower centre, brown ink, signed by the artist but partly crossed out: "Francs. Dancx."; lower left edge in margin, brown ink, first word unclear, artist's hand?: "[...] kaffir en kafterin"; lower right corner, graphite: "126". Verso: upper left edge, brown ink, artist's hand?: "Negers Speelende op Calabassen"; upper left, graphite, attempts to transcribe original inscriptions: "negers speelende op Calabassen / negroes playing on a calabash / de Keyser en Kaiseren //"; lower left and centre edge, graphite, erased and mostly illegible: "o[...] #[...]".

Collector's mark: Verso: lower left corner, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

Information on this object may be incomplete and will be updated as research progresses. We are particularly committed to addressing any discriminatory or offensive language and ideas that might be present in our records. To help improve this record, and to enquire about images of The Courtauld Gallery Collection, please email gallery.collectionsonline@courtauld.ac.uk. Find out more about using and licensing our images.

____________________________

Buy a print from our collection