abbie_walAug 16, 2023
Sharon Gibson Morgan

For more than 100 years, his image in a Louisiana family portrait had been obscured. Now that the painting has been restored and his presence acknowledged, Bélizaire, an enslaved young man of African descent, is prominently displayed at the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art. Gift Article: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/14/video/belizaire-frey-children-portrait-met.html?unlocked_article_code=9Q8e66G7g-ji5JAm5DIYiLnIA9CKV9VRAsnA3gwyKOXjswkPxuttM4h-ZRDga50IUT13oIBuaeipPXpfnSza_s4bC2RrXI3w931bl8Jh7QHAo-SGyKlLee7Bo_dquShHnVagcfEVWEVNx2I9b9y6BPYApPVY8nwxaR-kEFq0V2Wu4fjrUKG3IcPnuCkkqPbE6qwAuBmpO2ICovZcOlaSUypgaUFRyz-c9nLPx7FhQzYWugOYCvMyytZCAiBj5IHvv4UAC_ZsoCggLayBl8qDPw99mp5bi5HyuTYtDMjYbkU9rin4evyYzXLIexSwEvjnuLV5adTSvvYecBJX-J3zk3AYtyyfJ-FSkL2WtMFgtUPjCfZ5goZsKWw5CIu4&smid=url-share

#Art #TheMet #MetropolitanMuseumofArt #BlackMastodon

‘His Name Was Bélizaire’: Rare Portrait of Enslaved Child Arrives at the Met

The Met recently acquired “Bélizaire and the Frey Children,” a 19th-century Louisiana portrait with a secret: For over 100 years, the image of an enslaved youth was erased. This is his story.

The New York Times
Aug 15, 2023 at 5:52pmWeb
Show threadskuaAug 15, 2023

@SharonGibson3
Damn.
He was part of the family, enough to be included in a resource-expensive portrait and then got painted over?

It'd feel bad to have that done to me, like I was an embarrassment and disposable.

Show threadSharon Gibson MorganAug 15, 2023
@skua He was indeed disposable. He was later sold to the Evergreen Plantation
Show threadSamhain NightAug 16, 2023
@skua @SharonGibson3 He looks enough like the older sister that I wonder if he wasn’t part of the family & that’s why they painted him - then painted over hime when they sold him.
🤬
Show threadDavid NjokuAug 15, 2023
@SharonGibson3 What an amazing story. Thanks for sharing the article.
Show threadSharon Gibson MorganAug 15, 2023
@davidnjoku You're welcome. 😀
Show threadDB SchweinAug 15, 2023

@SharonGibson3

Photoshop old style

Show threadJeffrey A. StvanAug 16, 2023
@SharonGibson3 Thank You!
Show threadSharon Gibson MorganAug 16, 2023
@DioramaSky You're welcome! 😀
Show threadSensible CroneAug 16, 2023
@SharonGibson3 worth noting, the whole picture became more clear and beautiful with Belizaire restored. Everyone better off.
Show threadVenitaAug 16, 2023
@SharonGibson3 Clearly, family resemblance.
Show threadElfbiterAug 16, 2023
@SharonGibson3 Lots of those "restored" art did just like that - either hid or added details (like toy helicopters to Renaissance paintings).
Show threadAilbheAug 17, 2023
@SharonGibson3 the central white person with the short skirt is meant to be the mother?
Show threadLauraAug 17, 2023

@artbyailbhe @SharonGibson3 No, the Met's description of the painting says that it shows "Bélizaire (ca. 1822-after 1860), positioned above the three younger children in his care" so none of them are adults. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/898196

The NYT article adds that "Bélizaire was 15. He was the only person in the painting to survive to adulthood. Two Frey sisters, Elizabeth and Léontine, died the same year, likely of yellow fever. Their brother Frederick died a few years later."

Attributed to Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans | Bélizaire and the Frey Children | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Commissioned by Frederick Frey, New Orleans, LA; to his wife, Marie Celeste Coralie D’Aunoy Frey, New Orleans, in 1837; to her daughter Theodora Frey Pasteur; to Alice Pasteur; by descent to Audrey Hess Grasser; gift of Mr

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Show threadAilbheAug 17, 2023
@lauravivanco @SharonGibson3 the alt text confused me
Show threadLauraAug 17, 2023
@artbyailbhe @SharonGibson3 Yes, I noticed it said "a woman flanked by her two children" but I was thinking that the visible pantalettes made it more likely she was a child.
Show threadSharon Gibson MorganAug 17, 2023
@lauravivanco @artbyailbhe You're right. I will make the correction for the alt-text.