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Agostino Brunias, Italian, ca. 1730–1796, Free Women of Color with Their Children and Servants in a Landscape, 1770-1796.
Commissioned by the British government, the Italian artist Agostino Brunias created a series of paintings capturing the complex social and racial hierarchies of plantation life on the newly acquired British island of Dominica. Here, on the grounds of a sugar plantation, two mixed-race sisters wearing European-style clothing appear at center alongside their mother (at left), two children, and eight African servants. Brunias signaled the women’s elite status based on subtleties of skin color and dress, as well as space, foregrounding them in a position typically occupied by white settlers in traditional British “conversation pieces” (informal group portraits). While this idyllic scene seemingly endorses the cultural and racial hybridity of the region, it also projects a colonial fantasy that erases enslaved labor.
This print has been produced with the highest quality pigmented, non-toxic, environmentally friendly ink with a color permanence rating of at least 200-year stability. Printed on 100% acid-free cotton fine art paper. Prints are available either unframed or framed. All unframed prints include a suitably sized white border which enhances their look when placed in any standard off-the-shelf frame. Frames are made of wood and available in White, Black, or Light.
