Portrait of Madeleine [Not Negress] (Art Drop #8)
In 1800, at a time when women were not respected as serious artists, Marie-Guillemine Benoist painted this portrait of a Black woman, which now resides in the Louvre.
It may not look like it at first glance, but this painting is a self-portrait. Do not be confused by its original title—Portrait of a Negress. Or by one of the headings under which it’s still listed in the Louvre Museum —Portrait d'une femme noire. This 19th-century painting by Marie-Guillemine Benoist is most assuredly a self-portrait.
It is also a paradox
Benoist was a privileged white woman. The model was a Black woman whose status was uncertain at best and precarious at worst. Yet this painting is as much about the artist as it is about the subject.
It some ways, it’s very close to what philosopher Martin Buber called an I-Thou relationship in which the individual and the “other” are not separated by discrete (separate) bounds. Think of the word Namaste and you begin to get the sense of it.
In a way, the Portrait of Madeleine is simply a portrait of a woman painted by another woman. And in this sense, something emerges that is not revealed to the male gaze.
But in another sense, it points to an age-old problem that burdens feminism to this very day. Namely, how the privileges of race shelter white women from issues and concerns that impact women of color.
On the one hand, the painting is revolutionary both in its statement and in the very fact that the artist had become a skilled and respected painter in a male-dominated social order. During the French Revolution, she embodied independence and a woman’s right to occupy spaces previously held by men.
But on the other hand,
it can be argued that the Portrait of Madeleine actually exploits the Black model, since it is doubtful that a respectable white woman in the year 1800 would have agreed to sit with her breast exposed as Madeleine does.
Although the painting argues empathetically for the model’s humanity, vulnerability, and her desire for freedom and equality, it takes advantage of her precarious circumstances in order to achieve that.
In February of 1794, during the end of the Reign of Terror, Maximilien Robespierre abolished slavery in France and its colonies in order to extend the values of the French Revolution (Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity) throughout the French-speaking world.
But by the end of that year, Robespierre was executed during a coup d’etat staged by Napoleon Bonaparte. Three years later in May of 1802, Napoleon reintroduced slavery in the sugarcane-growing colonies in order to finance his wars. Although Napoleon died in 1821, slavery was not finally abolished in France until 1847.
Women’s History Month 2024
So here we are at the beginning of Women’s History Month 2024. And here is the Portrait of Madeleine, which represents the tie that unites white women and Black women, even as it exposes the dichotomy that separates them.
Here sits the beautiful Madeleine, a Black woman enshrined in the Louvre with her name finally restored. Although scholars discovered her identity in 2019, I’ve not been able to find out with certainty what happened to her afterwards.
It is believed that she was brought to France from the island of Guadeloupe by the artist’s brother-in-law. She was likely born into slavery in the colony and freed by the decree of 1794. It is presumed that she worked in his house in France as a servant from then on.
But we do know that the artist Marie-Guillemine Benoist was forced to abandon her painting at the height of her career.
After Napoleon was defeated, her husband was promoted to a high level position in the government of King Louis XVIII. It was considered inappropriate for a woman of her station to work as an artist during that politically conservative era. She spent the rest of her life living quietly as a wife and mother in what was undoubtedly some version of A Doll’s House.
Thus, each of these women enjoyed a brief period of freedom. Madeleine was freed from slavery—but only as long as she remained in France. Benoist was freed from the limitations imposed on white French women. But only for a while.
They mirrored each other even after the painting was done. Which is why I said at the outset that this painting is really a self-portrait.
If you want to know more about the artist, check out the 5-minute video below. And if you want to see how Beyoncé and Jay-Z handled this painting and also the Louvre, check out “Apeshit” in the video below that.
©2024 Andrew Jazprose Hill
Thanks for reading.
It’s a powerful work of art, for sure. Thanks for sharing something that is new to me and for your perspective. I agree with most of what you say, especially your I-Thou Namaste reflection. Regarding the possibility of exploitation in this case, though, I think you might be forgetting the history and development of the nude as an acceptable and common subject for artists, especially from the Renaissance onwards, many white European painters using white women and men as models. It began with religious and mythological subjects, but expanded to include more naturalistic nude portraits of contemporaries, all prior to 1800. To that extent, this painting is part of a tradition, not necessarily just one of a vulnerable black woman. Also, even regardless of that, what we see in the painting is not just the nudity, but a cultural representation., indicated by the traditional clothing. It’s invariably true that the strict social mores of European society at the time would dictate that a lady should not undress in public, but would those same social mores govern this woman’s social existence? If the answer is no, just on a sociological level, this painting can be called a bold and realistic depiction, not an attempt to cover up and ‘Europeanize’ her. It’s her clothing, that contributes to her dignity, not her vulnerability. Just some thoughts that I hope are helpful. Thanks again.
I love the woman’s expression in this painting. She looks so calm and self-assured - almost regal. She exudes dignity. So beautiful.