Free and Independent. 'Moor' Sculpture, Rokin 64, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Obviously many 'western' images of African people are directly connected to exploitation and slavery. But it is often forgotten that there's also an idealist ideology that sees non-Europeans as good and free and noble, indeed as exemplary. This photo is part of the latter tradition. The insets provide some background.
In 1610 one Barthelomeus Moor (1573-1636) bought a piece of land on what is now the Rokin in Amsterdam and built a house there; the pictured decorative statement was probably added later in the style of Louis XIV. He'd been born in Antwerp and was one of many merchants, often Calvinist, who fled the southern Low Countries in the wake of their fall to the Catholic Habsburgs and the onset of religious persecution. They found religious freedom and independence from monarchy in the Dutch Republic. Around 1600 Antwerp's population had diminshed from about 100,000 to a mere 42,000, and something like 30% of the population of Amsterdam was made up of Flemish Dutchmen. Many of these immigrants were merchant families soon to become wealthy in the prospering northern Low Countries.
No doubt, the choice of Moor or his family for this sculpture was motivated by the meaning of his family name. But added to that are the connotations of freedom, independence and desire for trade imputed to non-Europeans exemplified by that self-conscious, proud 'Moor'. He could well be a Carib or else maybe a Guinean. The inset top right is after a drawing by John Gabriël Stedman (1744-1797) of a Carib family. The one on the left is in the first book on African Guinea (more or less present-day Ghana) by Pieter de Maarees around 1602. It depicts Dutch (?) and African merchants and traders. Note the similarity in head dresses of the 'Guineans', the Carib and our 'Moor'.
Free and Independent. 'Moor' Sculpture, Rokin 64, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Obviously many 'western' images of African people are directly connected to exploitation and slavery. But it is often forgotten that there's also an idealist ideology that sees non-Europeans as good and free and noble, indeed as exemplary. This photo is part of the latter tradition. The insets provide some background.
In 1610 one Barthelomeus Moor (1573-1636) bought a piece of land on what is now the Rokin in Amsterdam and built a house there; the pictured decorative statement was probably added later in the style of Louis XIV. He'd been born in Antwerp and was one of many merchants, often Calvinist, who fled the southern Low Countries in the wake of their fall to the Catholic Habsburgs and the onset of religious persecution. They found religious freedom and independence from monarchy in the Dutch Republic. Around 1600 Antwerp's population had diminshed from about 100,000 to a mere 42,000, and something like 30% of the population of Amsterdam was made up of Flemish Dutchmen. Many of these immigrants were merchant families soon to become wealthy in the prospering northern Low Countries.
No doubt, the choice of Moor or his family for this sculpture was motivated by the meaning of his family name. But added to that are the connotations of freedom, independence and desire for trade imputed to non-Europeans exemplified by that self-conscious, proud 'Moor'. He could well be a Carib or else maybe a Guinean. The inset top right is after a drawing by John Gabriël Stedman (1744-1797) of a Carib family. The one on the left is in the first book on African Guinea (more or less present-day Ghana) by Pieter de Maarees around 1602. It depicts Dutch (?) and African merchants and traders. Note the similarity in head dresses of the 'Guineans', the Carib and our 'Moor'.