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A Lady going to Visit

Print
1817 (printed and published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This aquatint entered the collections of the V&A Museum as part of a group of ‘illustrations of carriages’ in 1860. It depicts a white woman being carried in a sedan chair by two black liveried servants. The party is led by a young black man, similarly wearing livery. The setting is a street scene, probably a town or city in Brazil. Brazil imported more enslaved African people than any other colony in the Americas. Unlike other colonies where most Africans were confined to manual labour on plantations, in Brazil many worked in urban occupations, including as domestic servants.

Images of the New World became available to the European public through the publication of travel narratives by Spanish, French, English, Portuguese, Italian and Dutch explorers from the 16th century. Many were accompanied by illustrations, often based on first hand observations. Hugely popular, these illustrations were widely copied during the 17th and 18th centuries.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleA Lady going to Visit (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Aquatint
Brief description
'A Lady going to Visit', print depicting white woman in sedan chair carried by black liveried servants, probably Brazil
Physical description
Print depicts a street scene, probably in Brazil. A white woman is carried in a sedan chair by two black liveried servants. A further child black male servant leads the party.
Dimensions
  • Height: 14.4cm
  • Width: 22.7cm
Marks and inscriptions
A Lady going to Visit. Bottom right: I Clark sculp. Under scene, the title: A lady going to Visit Under title: Published by Messers Longman, Hurst, Rees, orme & Brown, Paternoster Row, 1817 A collector's mark: An M and W superimposed, above perhaps a crown.
Subjects depicted
Place depicted
Summary
This aquatint entered the collections of the V&A Museum as part of a group of ‘illustrations of carriages’ in 1860. It depicts a white woman being carried in a sedan chair by two black liveried servants. The party is led by a young black man, similarly wearing livery. The setting is a street scene, probably a town or city in Brazil. Brazil imported more enslaved African people than any other colony in the Americas. Unlike other colonies where most Africans were confined to manual labour on plantations, in Brazil many worked in urban occupations, including as domestic servants.

Images of the New World became available to the European public through the publication of travel narratives by Spanish, French, English, Portuguese, Italian and Dutch explorers from the 16th century. Many were accompanied by illustrations, often based on first hand observations. Hugely popular, these illustrations were widely copied during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Associated objects
Collection
Accession number
19409

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Record createdAugust 30, 2006
Record URL
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