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Portrait of Madeleine
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Portrait of Madeleine
Portrait of Madeleine, also known as Portrait of a Black Woman (French: Portrait d'une femme noire or Portrait d'une negresse), is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist Marie-Guillemine Benoist, created in 1800. It was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1800, later was acquired by Louis XVIII for the French state in 1818, and remains in the collection of the Louvre.
The painting was created between the first abolition of slavery by the French revolutionary government in 1794 and its reinstatement in 1802 under Napoleon. The painting was initially exhibited at the 1800 Salon amid wider anxieties about slavery and race within France and its Caribbean colonies.
At the Salon, the painting was simply listed as ''Portrait d’une négresse'', replacing the sitter’s personal name with a racialized label.
The half-length portrait measures 81 cm × 65 cm (32 in × 26 in). It depicts a young Black woman, sitting in a gilt armchair mostly covered with a blue cloth, in front of a plain light background. She is seated in a three-quarter position towards her left, but her head turns to look directly at the viewer with an unsmiling and composed expression. She is wearing a white cloth tied as a headdress, and a white dress tied with a red cord. The loose end of the headcloth hangs down on the left side of her face, but her right ear is visible with a hoop earring. Her right arm rests in her lap; her left arm is holding up the dress, but it has slipped down to reveal her right breast. Her legs fall outside the frame. Art historian Viktoria Schmidt-Linsenhoff notes the soft brown and golden highlights across the sitter's face and body and subtle gradations between light and shadow.
It is signed near the subject's right hand with the artist's maiden name and married names: "Laville Leroulx / f. Benoist" ("f" for "femme", or "wife of").
The composition has similarities to Benoist's 1802 portrait of Madame Philippe Panon Desbassayns de Richemont and her son Eugène, now held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The painting was first exhibited at the 1800 Paris Salon as Portrait d'une négresse. Along with three other works by Benoist, the painting was acquired by Louis XVIII for France in 1818 for a total price of 11,000 francs. Initially held at the Luxembourg Palace, it has been in the collection at the Louvre for many years.
The painting was renamed Portrait de Madeleine after recent scholarship led to the identification of the subject in 2019 as a woman named Madeleine who came to France from Guadeloupe after slavery was abolished in France and its colonies in 1794, and who worked as a servant for Benoist's in-laws, the Benoist-Cavays.[citation needed]
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Portrait of Madeleine
Portrait of Madeleine, also known as Portrait of a Black Woman (French: Portrait d'une femme noire or Portrait d'une negresse), is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist Marie-Guillemine Benoist, created in 1800. It was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1800, later was acquired by Louis XVIII for the French state in 1818, and remains in the collection of the Louvre.
The painting was created between the first abolition of slavery by the French revolutionary government in 1794 and its reinstatement in 1802 under Napoleon. The painting was initially exhibited at the 1800 Salon amid wider anxieties about slavery and race within France and its Caribbean colonies.
At the Salon, the painting was simply listed as ''Portrait d’une négresse'', replacing the sitter’s personal name with a racialized label.
The half-length portrait measures 81 cm × 65 cm (32 in × 26 in). It depicts a young Black woman, sitting in a gilt armchair mostly covered with a blue cloth, in front of a plain light background. She is seated in a three-quarter position towards her left, but her head turns to look directly at the viewer with an unsmiling and composed expression. She is wearing a white cloth tied as a headdress, and a white dress tied with a red cord. The loose end of the headcloth hangs down on the left side of her face, but her right ear is visible with a hoop earring. Her right arm rests in her lap; her left arm is holding up the dress, but it has slipped down to reveal her right breast. Her legs fall outside the frame. Art historian Viktoria Schmidt-Linsenhoff notes the soft brown and golden highlights across the sitter's face and body and subtle gradations between light and shadow.
It is signed near the subject's right hand with the artist's maiden name and married names: "Laville Leroulx / f. Benoist" ("f" for "femme", or "wife of").
The composition has similarities to Benoist's 1802 portrait of Madame Philippe Panon Desbassayns de Richemont and her son Eugène, now held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The painting was first exhibited at the 1800 Paris Salon as Portrait d'une négresse. Along with three other works by Benoist, the painting was acquired by Louis XVIII for France in 1818 for a total price of 11,000 francs. Initially held at the Luxembourg Palace, it has been in the collection at the Louvre for many years.
The painting was renamed Portrait de Madeleine after recent scholarship led to the identification of the subject in 2019 as a woman named Madeleine who came to France from Guadeloupe after slavery was abolished in France and its colonies in 1794, and who worked as a servant for Benoist's in-laws, the Benoist-Cavays.[citation needed]
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