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Allegory of Africa

$100,000List Price

About the Item

Circle of Govaert Flinck (Dutch, 1615 – 1660) Allegory of Africa Oil on canvas 14 ¾ x 10 ⅜ inches (37.5 x 26.4 cm) Provenance: Private Collection, United Kingdom Christie’s, South Kensington, 11 July 2003, lot 11, as Follower of Paolo Veronese, sold for £37,600 ($61,307); where acquired by: Private Collection, New York Seventeenth-century Amsterdam was a center of international trade and its port welcomed sailors from across the globe. Many settled in the city, including a complement that established a small African community in the same neighborhood in which Rembrandt maintained his studio. While the Dutch engaged in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, slavery itself was illegal in the Netherlands. Many Black people found employment as servants among Jewish families in the quarter, and some worked additionally as models for Rembrandt and his associates. While Black figures frequently populate European paintings as subsidiary figures or elements of exotica, their portrayal in the Amsterdam of Rembrandt’s time was more varied, with a notable avoidance of stereotype and caricature, and an often ennobling depiction of the individual, no doubt engendered by the personal interactions and familiarity that the subjects had with the artists. The present painting is one such example. The sitter is depicted in a direct manner, gazing off to the right, much in the format of traditional portraits of aristocracy. But what might seem a character study—called tronies in Dutch painting—is belied by the figure’s rich accoutrements: a pearl necklace, pearl earrings, lush classical attire, and a jeweled headdress. In this portrayal, the subject seems to have been elevated from her status as an individual to that of an allegorical figure—one representing her continent of origin. The mid-seventeenth century is often considered the peak of the Age of Exploration and the new global prospect was reflected in European visual arts with allegorical representations of the continents, either individually or as part of a series. Africa was typically depicted as a young, slightly deshabillé woman, whose dark skin would be contrasted with an adornment of brilliant white pearls. Close in date and spirit to our painting is the Allegory of Africa by Jan Boekhorst, which features a similarly attired and jeweled Black woman (Fig. 1). This tradition of representation continued into the eighteenth century and often featured a feathered headdress similar to the one worn by the subject of our painting (Fig. 2). While such depictions were intended as allegories of the African continent, these partially naked, richly attired women are also cognates of courtesan imagery popular throughout European art. Our painting comes from an artist in the close circle of Govaert Flinck, one of Rembrandt’s most distinguished students. Flinck studied with Rembrandt between 1633 and 1636 before embarking on a successful independent career cut short by his death at age forty-five. Like his teacher, Flinck depicted African models that he came to know in Amsterdam. One of his most moving paintings is of young Black youth, shown as an archer, now in the Wallace Collection, London (Fig. 3). Another model must have served as a source both for our painting and a figure in a large canvas in the Amsterdam City Hall depicting Manius Curius Dentatus Rejecting the Bribes of the Samnites (Fig. 4). The figures in these works are each oriented conversely, and the youth in the Amsterdam painting (who holds a silver coffer) appears to be a boy. But while the costume and jewelry are disparate, it is possible that the same model in the same pose served as the basis for the figures in both paintings. An engraving by Cornelis van Dalen, with whom frequently Flinck collaborated, records the same subject as our painting (Fig. 5). But as it is in the same sense as the painting—that is, not reversed—it seems likely that our painting was not the source of the print, but rather was based on it. For this reason, we consider our painting to be by an artist in the immediate circle of Flinck, rather than from the artist’s own hand.

Dimensions:
Height: 14.75 in (37.47 cm)Width: 10.375 in (26.36 cm)
Medium:
Canvas,Oil
Movement Style:
Old Masters
Circle Of:
Govaert Flinck (1615 - 1660)
Period:
17th Century
Condition:
Gallery Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU1027006462

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