Abstract
This article examines Van Dyck’s use of the motif of the African attendant in his extant oeuvre in order to establish patterns and strategies of representation of the racial other. It reveals the artist’s paternalistic interpretation of a trope that was aesthetically informed by examples set by Titian and Rubens but adapted to the tastes of his patrons as determined by the fashion of the time and place. By considering the iconography in conjunction with the reception of the works I disclose the varying connotations of the motif demonstrating the artist’s wit in developing early visual forms of racial humour. These unique adaptations expose Van Dyck’s use of ridicule as a pattern of paternalism rooted in his social ambitions and Christian convictions yet always subject to the conditions of display. The value of this research lies in its contribution both to Van Dyck scholarship and to the history of race and racism in early modern Western Europe.
Highlights
The value of this research lies in its contribution both to Van Dyck scholarship and to the history of race and racism in early modern Western Europe
Anthony Van Dyck is rightfully recognised as the artist who established the motif of the black servant as a secondary figure in 17th-Century portraiture (Kaplan 2010:180).The presence of the black African in his history paintings, on the other hand, has received scant attention
Hondius (2014:2) argues that paternalism, as the most pervasive pattern of behaviour in European race relations, “dominates European racial discourses”. She conceives of racial paternalism as a theory that explains the power structures between white Europeans and non-white Africans
Summary
Anthony Van Dyck is rightfully recognised as the artist who established the motif of the black servant as a secondary figure in 17th-Century portraiture (Kaplan 2010:180).The presence of the black African in his history paintings, on the other hand, has received scant attention. By considering the iconography in conjunction with the reception of the works I intend to disclose the varying connotations of the motif demonstrating the artist’s wit in developing early visual forms of racial humour In my view these adaptations reveal Van Dyck’s ambivalent perception of black Africans rooted in his social ambitions and Christian convictions yet always subject to the conditions of display. By making fun of peripheral and ambiguous groups they reduce ambiguity and clarify boundaries or at least make ambiguity appear less threatening.” In line with this theory, Van Dyck can be identified as a member of the central ethnic group, namely the European elite, which upheld certain social and moral standards and, in the smaller circle of Flanders, supported the Counter-Reformist efforts of the Brussels court. As will be shown in the artworks discussed below Van Dyck displayed remarkable wit in visualising various undesirable traits which betray his paternalistic attitude
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