![]() But people of color are there in these artworks-somewhat infrequently and, as in the case of Steen’s “fantasy,” often not prominently-but it’s not hard to find them if you keep your eyes open. In American cultural memory-well, in white American cultural memory-the “old masters” were white guys in Europe some centuries ago who painted white folks. One of the things I sometimes do when I wander museum galleries of Western art is look for people of color in the “old master” paintings. Looking for People of Color in Western Art History (Courtesy of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri) Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 67-8. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. "Fantasy Interior with Jan Steen and the Family of Gerrit Schouten," ca. I wondered: Was “servant” a euphemism? Was this black wine steward actually a slave? Jan Steen, Dutch (1626-1679). “Seemingly every detail alludes to Schouten’s aristocratic aspirations,” a sign explained, “from the tapestries lining the back wall and the fanciful harpsichord to the presence of a black servant.” The sign seems to say that the brewer’s aspirations were demonstrated by what he owns (at least in this “fantasy”): tapestries, a harpsichord and … a black servant. It hangs in one of the first rooms of the exhibit “Class Distinctions: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer” at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts through Jan. The scene is titled “Fantasy Interior with Jan Steen and the Family of Gerrit Schouten." The Dutch painter Jan Steen painted the canvas somewhere around the year 1663. He's depicted almost like a dark shadow and he smiles wide, like a caricature. Everyone in the painting is white except for the black man, with a glass in his hand, reaching down to a jug sitting in a tub, a cooler, on the floor. Who was the black man standing at the left of the 350-year-old painting? It depicts a Dutch family-the father, a wealthy brewer, leaning over the back of a chair to watch his grown daughters make music, playing a harpsichord, strumming some sort of guitar. ![]() (Courtesy of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri) This article is more than 7 years old. ![]()
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