1672 (ca.), Bartolome Esteban Murillo, The Marriage Feast at Cana -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (on loan)
From the museum label: Biblical subjects set in a distant time and place have encouraged blind spots in acknowledging that many early modern artists knew and worked with Black models. Murillo here brings contemporary concerns to a biblical story: Christ transforming water into wine. The newlyweds at center are often identified as this painting's first owners, Nicolás and Elizabeth Omazur, and the Black figure was probably also a member of contemporary Sevillian society. His proximity to the miracle may have been intended to suggest the transformative role of baptism in the forced assimilation of people from Africa. Murillo's brilliant depiction of fashionable pottery, metalwork, glassware, and embroidered Chinese textiles attests to Seville's rich material culture and central role in global trade.
1672 (ca.), Bartolome Esteban Murillo, The Marriage Feast at Cana -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (on loan)
From the museum label: Biblical subjects set in a distant time and place have encouraged blind spots in acknowledging that many early modern artists knew and worked with Black models. Murillo here brings contemporary concerns to a biblical story: Christ transforming water into wine. The newlyweds at center are often identified as this painting's first owners, Nicolás and Elizabeth Omazur, and the Black figure was probably also a member of contemporary Sevillian society. His proximity to the miracle may have been intended to suggest the transformative role of baptism in the forced assimilation of people from Africa. Murillo's brilliant depiction of fashionable pottery, metalwork, glassware, and embroidered Chinese textiles attests to Seville's rich material culture and central role in global trade.