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Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe

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Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe 12.1mm 203mm revealing the african presence in renaissance europe presencerevealing the african in renaissance the walters art museum art the walters revealing the african presence in renaissance europe revealing the african presence in renaissance europe Revealing The Presence African Renaissance Europe edited by Joaneath Spicer contributions by Natalie Zemon Davis Kate Lowe Joaneath Spicer RevealingBen Vinson III revealing the african presence The Presencein renaissanceAfrican europe Renaissance the Europewalters art museum This publication has been generously supported by the Robert H. and Clarice Smith Publication Fund Published by the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore All rights reserved. © 2012 Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced, Third printing, 2013 stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopy, recording, or other information and retrieval systems without the written permission of the Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery. This publication accompanies the exhibition Revealing All dimensions are in centimeters; height precedes width the African Presence in Renaissance Europe, held at the precedes depth unless otherwise indicated. Walters Art Museum from October 14, 2012, to January 21, The Walters Art Museum 2013, and at the Princeton University Art Museum from 600 North Charles Street February 16 to June 9, 2013. Baltimore, Maryland 21201 This exhibition is supported by a grant from the National thewalters.org Endowment for the Humanities and by an indemnity Produced by Marquand Books, Seattle from the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities. marquand.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Designed and typeset by Susan E. Kelly Revealing the African presence in Renaissance Typeset in Eidetic Modern, Eidetic Neo, and Voluta Script Europe/edited by Joaneath Spicer ; contributions by Proofread by Carrie Wicks Natalie Zemon Davis, Kate Lowe, Joaneath Spicer, Ben Color management by iocolor, Seattle Vinson III ; The Walters Art Museum. Printed and bound in China by Artron Color Printing Co. p. cm. cover and page 118 Workshop of Gerard David, Adoration “This publication accompanies the exhibition Reveal- of the Kings (no. 1), detail ing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe, held page 2 Domenico Tintoretto, Portrait of a Man (no. 65) at the Walters Art Museum from October 14, 2012, to page 6 Girolamo da Santacroce, Adoration of the Kings January 21, 2013, and at the Princeton University Art (no. 24) Museum from February 16 to June 9, 2013.” page 12 Chafariz d’el Rey in the Alfama District (no. 47), Includes bibliographical references. detail ISBN 978-0-911886-78-8 page 34 Jan Muller, after Hendrick Goltzius, The First Day 1. Africans in art—Exhibitions. 2. Blacks in art— (Dies 1) (no. 38) Exhibitions. 3. Art, Renaissance—Exhibitions. 4. Blacks— page 60 Habits des habitans du Caire, from Leo Africanus, Europe—History—16th century—Exhibitions. I. Spicer, Historiale description de l’Afrique (no. 19) Joaneath A. (Joaneath Ann) II. Davis, Natalie Zemon, page 80 Portrait of a Wealthy African (no. 61) 1928– III. Lowe, K. J. P. IV. Vinson, Ben, III. V. Walters Art page 98 Andrés Sánchez Galque, Los tres mulatos de Museum (Baltimore, Md.) VI. Princeton University. Art Esmeraldas (no. 77) Museum. N8232.R48 2012 704.94209409031—dc23 2012018607 Director’s Foreword 7 Contents 8 Introduction Joaneath Spicer 13 The Lives of African Slaves and People of African Descent in Renaissance Europe Kate Lowe 35 European Perceptions of Blackness as Reflected in the Visual Arts Joaneath Spicer 61 “Leo Africanus” Presents Africa to Europeans Natalie Zemon Davis 81 Free Men and Women of African Ancestry in Renaissance Europe Joaneath Spicer 99 Visual Representations of an Elite: African Ambassadors and Rulers in Renaissance Europe Kate Lowe 116 Afterword Ben Vinson III List of Lenders 117 Checklist of the Exhibition 119 Selected Secondary Sources 139 Curator’s Acknowledgments 142 Contributors 143 Photography Credits 144 6 d irector’s foreword Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance art, among the finest in America, contributes sub- Europe invites visitors to explore the varied roles stantially to the exhibition’s object list, and the and societal contributions of Africans and their exhibition’s interpretive approach builds on the descendents in Renaissance Europe as revealed approach embedded in the Walters’ permanent in compelling paintings, drawings, sculpture, installation of a late Renaissance “Chamber of Art and printed books of the period. The story of the and Wonders,” also conceived by Dr. Spicer, which Renaissance with its renewed focus on the individ- underscores the cultural exchange among Europe, ual is often told, but this project seeks a different Asia, and Africa in the Age of Exploration. perspective, to understand the period in terms of A project of this scope and ambition could not individuals of African ancestry, whom we encoun- have happened without the generous support of ter in arresting portrayals from life, testifying to many institutions and individuals, first of all the the Renaissance adage that portraiture magically Princeton University Art Museum. makes the absent present. We begin with slaves, We are deeply grateful to the many donors moving up the social ladder to farmers, artisans, who made the exhibition possible at the Walters, aristocrats, scholars, diplomats, and rulers from including the Richard C. von Hess Foundation, the different parts of the African continent. While National Endowment for the Arts, the National many individuals can be identified, the names of Endowment for the Humanities, the Bernard Fam- most slaves and freed men and women are lost. ily, Christie’s, Andie and Jack Laporte, Kathryn Recognizing the traces of their existence in the Coke Rienhoff, Lynn and Philip Rauch, the Mary- art of the time and, where possible, their achieve- land Humanities Council, Cynthia Alderdice, Joel ments is one way of restoring their identities. M. Goldfrank, and other generous individuals. The exhibition, conceived by Joaneath Spicer, This publication is made possible by the Robert H. James A. Murnaghan Curator of Renaissance and Clarice Smith Publication Fund. The exhibi- and Baroque Art at the Walters Art Museum, and tion is supported by an indemnity from the Federal the programs accompanying it are an expres- Council on the Arts and Humanities. sion of the engagement of the Walters, through our collections and programming, with the Afri- Gary Vikan can American community in Baltimore to create The Walters Art Museum an increased sense of a shared heritage and of the museum’s commitment to serving diverse audiences, to which our second venue, Princeton University Art Museum, subscribes as well. The museum’s extensive collection of Renaissance 7 introduction joaneath spicer The value placed on the identity and perspective of diplomats in Europe and African rulers, present in the individual may be one of the chief legacies of the Europe through their portraits commissioned for European Renaissance to Western culture, but that great princely collections, images that may assert attention expanded to encompass those outside the cultural difference and a keen understanding of cultural elites only very gradually and imperfectly. self-representation in a way denied to others. The Given the conventionalized treatment of other mar- exhibition ends with the mesmerizing figure of ginalized groups of the time such as peasants, the St. Benedict the Moor, the Renaissance African- material available for illuminating the lives of indi- European with the greatest impact today. vidual Africans in Renaissance Europe through the The origin of the project was research under- visual arts is considerable, though little known to taken in 2000 in response to a query as to the the wider public. The focus here is on Africans liv- museum’s position on the conflicting claims con- ing in or visiting Europe in what has been called the cerning the identity of the child in the Walters’ long sixteenth century, from the 1480s to around painting by Jacopo Pontormo, then called Portrait 1610. The exhibition and essays seek to draw out not of Maria Salviati and a Child, datable to ca. 1539 only their physical presence but their identity and (no. 64). Formulating the wider issues from the per- participation in society, as well as the challenges, spective of her identity and indeed the nature of prejudices, and the opportunities they encountered. the public response to that identity has informed Addressing this rich material in the context of a the current exhibition project. The parameters of public exhibition offers the possibility to encour- research were altered by a “game-changing” confer- age broad public discussion of the larger issues of ence organized at Oxford University (2001) by Kate shared heritage—as well as those of race, color, and Lowe and Thomas Earle, “Black Africans in Renais- identity—through the vehicle of great art. sance Europe.” Over time it became clear that there The exhibition experience is built around two were more than enough evocative, potentially bor- main sections. Section 1 addresses conditions that rowable objects to create an exhibition that could frame the lives of Africans in Europe—slavery and generate public conversation on racial identity. The social status, perceptions of Africa, the represen- Amsterdam exhibition Black Is Beautiful (2008) tation of Africans in Christian art, blackness and raised important questions that continue to benefit cultural difference, as well as the aesthetic appreci- the field, and The Image of the Black in Western Art ation of blackness. Then in Section 2 the individuals project, edited by David Bindman and Henry Louis themselves come to the fore—often through portray- Gates, Jr., and now generously hosted by the DuBois als from life—first as slaves and servants, followed Institute at Harvard University, has become a major by the surprisingly wide range of free and freed force. Nevertheless, by adopting an approach high- Africans living ordinary lives, and finally African lighting the roles of individuals of African descent 8 scholars.
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