From art works we have some knowledge of the relationships between models and sitters of African and Asian ancestry (mainly male) and British /European artists. see for example the drawing by John Bourne 'A meeting of connoisseurs' 1807 (V&A) where a muscular male model is posing in the garret of a skinny impoverished artist. The model is moonlighting from his regular employment as coachman/driver. Modelling was always a casual form of work and black models were dawn from the obvious areas: private service where handsome males worked as footmen and coachmen; armed services where soldiers and sailors were likely to be physically strong; and prizefighting, where black boxers regularly featured. Info on this is in the exhibition catalogue Black Victorians : Black People in British Art 1800-1900 (2005); also I have written papers on modelling as an employment niche (''Pictured at Work') and on 'Art Against the Slave Trade 1780-1860' which illustrates roles in which black models were cast in visual art. Regarding sitters, see 'Ignatius Sancho and Portraits of the Black Elite' by Reyahn King in Ignatius Sancho: An African Man of Letters, National Portrait Gallery 1997.
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From: The Black and Asian Studies Association on behalf of Peter Freshwater
Sent: Wed 30/12/2009 18:21
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Vincent Carretta re. Ignatius Sancho
ODNB lists a John Hamilton Mortimer (1740-1779), painter and etcher. His dates are right. Mortimer specialised in paintings of banditti. Could he have included Sancho among his models/subjects? I don't think we know much about the models for the portrayals of Black servants, for instance, in C18 and early C19 paintings?
Hope this helps.
Happy New Year tae ane and a'!
Peter
Peter B Freshwater, MA, DipLib, FSA Scot
43 Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh EH12 5QQ, Scotland
Tel: 0044 (0)131 337 7049
Email: [log in to unmask]
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