This 18th-century painting commemorates an historic fencing match between two French knights: one an illegitimate Black nobleman and the other a gender nonconforming spy.
This dignified portrait by Diego Velázquez depicts his enslaved Black assistant, Juan de Pareja, who was a skilled artist in his own right.
Diego Bemba’s 1643 portrait, along with those of Pedro Sunda and Miguel de Castro, represents an early example of cultural exchange in which African ambassadors donning European costume in order to project a carefully curated image of cultural capital.
The young man in this portrait, dressed in formal French aristocratic style, represents the final flourish (or last gasp?) of the ancien régime in the last years before the French Revolution.
This 16th-century portrait attributed to Annibale Carracci is valuable for its realistic depiction of a Black sitter, possibly a seamstress, who is dressed in a fine but sensible black day dress with touches of Italian luxury.
The Fez and the Ottoman Path to Modernity
1869 – Red Silk Dress
katazome (stencil printing)
1905 – André Derain, Lucien Gilbert
Inès Gâches-Sarraute and the Straight-Front Corset