Treasure trove of images of medieval people of color!

I've just run into the most wonderful blog, full of images I've not seen before, and sorted by date!

http://medievalpoc.org/mission-statement/

And for the Walters Art Museum, Huzzah!

You may have suspected that I have a tiny bit of a crush on this museum, and you'd have been right in the past. But not anymore! Now my admiration has blossomed into a feeling far to warm to be described as a mere crush, and in a moment I think your's will too.

They are offering the companion book to their exhibit, "Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe" free for both viewing on-line and downloading.

I'm still gonna by a paper copy but now I'm gonna ask them to autograph it! <3

Renaissance Africans in Europe...and BALTIMORE!

Wow. I really don't know what to say.

Being in an art museum that has *any* depictions of black people is pretty rare in my experience. If we are there we tend to be the ketchup of the show, not the burger...or even the fries. Just the condiment that underscores the importance of the main dish.

Unless, of course, it is a special exhibit of some kind...(sigh...)

So here I am at the Walters and it *is* a special exhibit, but for the first time in my experience it is truly a show about me. My timeline and place in art and the world, and history. I'm surrounded by folks who could be my family, wearing things I would wear, doing things I might do, and suddenly I'm not that weird black girl who likes to pretend to be 16th century Italian. (Like *that* could have happened! ... Insert eye roll here.)

I'm that weird 20th-21st century girl who likes to investigate her cultural history. I *belong.* We really were there.

And I gotta tell you, the painting of a whole gang of Black Landsneicht is a real life changer!

And now for the lecture...

Hi from Baltimore!

I'm here and braving the potential hurricane to see the REVEALING THE AFRICAN PRESENCE IN RENAISSANCE EUROPE exhibit I previously mentioned. As it happens, the only day I can visit the show is also the day they are having a 4 hour forum about it. So I'll be there too, of course, and I also hope to pay a visit to their very nice collection of renaissance jewels, and who knows what else?

The erie absense of black folks

I found another Portrait of Maria Salviati
the one in the frame is by Jacopo Carucci after Pontormo, 1543-1545
Inventory Number 3565 from the 1890 inventory of the Uffizi collection.

Looking at the second painting I can't help wondering...is there another little bi-racial girl hidden under all that black paint?

And this is why we love the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Because they have Great Stuff! For Example:















Gondola Ride (A page from a larger work "Book of Italian Costumes")Niclauss Kippell (German) 1588

And they plan Great Exhibits! I know where I'll be this fall. In celebration of my birthday I'm going to their upcoming show:

Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe

This is particularly timely for me because I have spent the last few days working on a page of black folks in period art. One of my personal challenges as a reenactor of color has been finding a plausible persona which *includes* (rather than ignores) my actual ethnic heritage. I've been scouring the web looking for the occasional images I can remember seeing of people of African heritage just living their lives in Venice, or Amsterdam, or wherever. They are there, yes, but terribly hard to locate...and then here comes The Walters Art Museum with an entire show which not only discusses the history and art of the period but also what has happened to the works over time.

(Apparently the little Medici girl in the painting below was painted out in the 19th Century and rediscovered during cleaning. Wrap your head around that.)

I can hardly wait for the show!


Portrait of Maria Salviati de Medici and Gulia de Medici, Jacopo Pontormo, 1600
Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland