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Veronese, Callet and the Black Boy at the Feast

Author(s): Elizabeth McGrathReviewed work(s):Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 61 (1998), pp. 272-276Published by: The Warburg InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/751256.

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272 NOTESIn this otherwise conventional description,one feature appears to be unusual, namelythe object Envyholds in her hand. In Alciati'sepigram, it is described as 'a thorny staff'.13According to the commentary written byClaude Mignault and printed along withAlciati's text in almost all editions from theearly 1570s, and thus probably available toHoefnagel, the phrase refers to Malediction,Calumny or Slander, i.e. to the negative side-effects of Envy.14In her pioneering study ofthe emblematic elements in Hoefnagel'swork, Thea Vignau-Wilberg interpreted thesignature as an allegorical representation ofhow Hoefnagel faces up to the buffeting ofFate in the persons of Stupidity and Envy,and has his character formed by the experi-ence.'5 In the light of Alciati's emblems, thisinterpretation can be slightly revised: theartist's personality is being forged by blowsstruck by Avarice and (maledictory) Envy.Previous research has abundantly dem-onstrated that Hoefnagel's knowledge ofemblematics was unrivaled among sixteenth-century artists. Such is certainly attested inthe complex imagery of his 'emblematic'signature-a visual concept undoubtedlyworthy of the 'title' the artist coined for him-self: 'inventor hieroglyphicus et allegoricus'.LUBOMiR KONEC(NYCHARLESUNIVERSITY,PRAGUE

y 2 de Octubrede 1991), Teruel 1994, pp. 305-32 (308-9).13 This is pictured more clearly in some editions thanothers: e.g. in the comprehensive Padua 1621 edition.14 'Hoc referendum est ad aculeatam invidiorummaledictiam.' See e.g. Alciati 1577 (as in n. 10), p. 273.Mignault refers here to Ovid's description of Envy inMetamorphoses,i.789: 'Baculumque capit, quod spineatortum vincula cingebant'; thus constructing the phrase'baculum tortum' (a twisted staff) instead of the stan-dard modern reading 'baculum totum'. This differencenotwithstanding, Alciati's word 'tela' (weapons) seemsto have been understood by Mignault as 'baculum'(staff), and, thus, admittedly also by Hoefnagel. Thisexplanation was taken over by Joannes Thuilius in hismonumental commentary in the editio optimaof 1621.Needless to say, the object looks quite different indifferent editions of Alciati's book. In the 1577 printing(Fig, 105) the phrase wasstill understood as meaning anobject similar to a standard Herculean club.15 'Hoefnagel wird vom Schicksal in der Gestalt derDummheit und Neides getroffen, wird aber durch dieSchlige geformt.' Wilberg Vignau-Schuurman, Emblema-tischen Elemente (as in n. 3), p. 258.

VERONESE, CALLET AND THEBLACK BOY AT THE FEAST*odged uncertainlyon the margin ofVeronese's oeuvres a drawing of a blackboy eating at a table (Fig. 107).' The boy isfurnished with a plate and knife and sucksat a fruit while glancing up towards the lightwhich floods over his face. The associationwith Veronese, first made by Detlev vonHadeln,2 stems not only from perceivedanalogies with two other drawings of headsof blacks, one connected with a specific paint-ing by the artist,3but also from a supposedaffinity with the black figures painted by

* This Note is essentially an overgrown footnote to the16th- and 17th-century volume of TheImage of theBlackin WesternArt, sponsored by the Menil Foundation, onwhich I am at present working. In fact it depends on anobservation made by the editor of the project, LadislasBugner, and generously passed on to me. For that, andall his help, my special thanks. I am also most gratefulto Brigitte Gallini, who is preparing a catalogue raisonneof Callet, for not only answering many questions on theartist but sending me relevant, unpublished materialfrom her files, and to Pierre Rosenberg and Paul Taylorfor their suggestions.1 Whereabouts unknown; 15.5 x 19 cm. See R. Cocke,Veronese'sDrawings. A Catalogue Raisonne, London 1984,p. 307, no. 135 (illus.), expressing doubts, but conclud-ing that the attribution seems 'plausible'. It was sold atSotheby's 10 May 1961, lot 29 (previously Sotheby's, 9June 1955, lot 13; collection Archibald G. B. Russell[1927]: the collector's mark on the bottom left isRussell's).2 D. Freiherr von Hadeln, The Vasari Society for theReproduction of Drawings by Old and Modern Masters, 2ndser., viii, Oxford 1927, p. 7, pl. 4; his attribution wasdisputed by H. Tietze and E. Tietze-Conrat, TheDrawingsof the Venetian Painters in the 15th and 16th Centuries, NewYork 1944, p. 347, no. A 2109, pl. CXCVI,commenting,'The whole realistic motive conforms better to theBolognese School'. The drawing is presented as a workquestionably attributed to Veronese, yet treated as a typeof genre scene that could have influenced CaravaggioinW. Friedlinder, CaravaggioStudies,Princeton 1955, pp.53-4, fig. 39. A similar view is found in D. Posner,Annibale Carracci. A Study in the Reform of Italian Paintingaround1590, 2 vols, London and New York1971, i, p. 20,where the 'drawing of a boy eating fruit sometimesascribed to Veronese' becomes an instance of 'NorthItalian naturalistic pictorial [notation]'.3 Cocke (as in n. 1), pp. 136-7, no. 54, a downturnedhead (Paris,Louvre) drawn with heavy hatching in blackand red chalk, corresponding to the torch-bearer at thelower left of the MiracleofSt Barnabas Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rouen); and pp. 164-5, no. 68, an upturned head

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THE BLACK BOY AT THE FEAST 273Veronese, especially the little page-boyswho enliven the great biblical Feasts, oftenmarking out significant groups and details.Whatever the respective merits of the attri-bution to Veronese of the two drawings ofheads-quite different one from another in

Moreover, the subject, far from conform-ing easily to Veronese's mode of representingblacks, reverses all expectations in showingthe boy seated at rather than standing by thetable, eating rather than serving. Some com-mentators have taken account of this to the

low10.

7 4 -

07Ad. ..

Fig. 107-Study of a boy at table, drawing. Whereabouts unknown

technique and character4--the comparisonalready points up the singularity of the sheetshowing the boy seated at table (Fig. 107). Itwould be rare enough to find examples ofthe artist drawing heads from life for use innarrative compositions; but to encounter astudy by Veronese which purports to recorda live model posed in exactly the attitude andsituation intended for a projected painting ofthis type is altogether unexpected.5

extent of associating the theme with Bolo-gnese naturalism, scenes of genre and lowlife.6 In so doing they effectively distance thestudy from Veronese, but force the boy intouncomfortable companionship with Anni-bale Carracci's slurping Bean-eater,' or-ifwe look specifically for black figures-theexaggerated 'comic' crudities of BartolomeoPassarotti.8 The boy's somewhat delicate airand distracted mood surely point to an

of a youth (whereabouts unknown), shaded only lightlyand strongly illuminated, and not specifically related toany known picture.4 See previous note. The upturned head was dismissedas a work of Veronese by Tietze and Tietze-Conrat (as inn. 2, p. 347, no. A 2108, pl. CXCVI), and indeed seemsproblematic; unlike Cocke, I find no very close resem-blance to any black figure painted by Veronese. Theother head in the Louvre was likewise considered doubt-ful by the Tietzes (op. cit., p. 349, no. A 2133), who didnot, however, appreciate the relationship to the altar-piece in Rouen: for this see P. Rosenberg in LeXVIe i?cleeurop~en.Peintures et Dessins dans les CollectionsPubliquesFrangaises, xhib. cat., Paris 1965, p. 254, under no. 312.Still, it has been suggested that it might be a copy after,

rather than a study for, the painting: T. Pignatti, Veronese.L'opera ompleta, vols, Venice 1976, i, p. 132, under no.162. Certainly there is no really convincing parallel tothis heavily-workedsheet among the secure drawings ofVeronese.5 Von Hadeln (as in n. 2) evades the issue, simply call-ing it 'an admirable example of Veronese's rare studiesfrom the living model'.6 See, for example, n. 2 above.7 Rome, Galleria Colonna. See Posner (as in n. 2), i,pp. 19-20, and ii, p. 5, no. 8. Comparison is regularlymade with this painting in the literature.

8 In the so-called MerryCompany Paris, private collec-tion), a black couple is displayed among the grotesquegroup ranged at a sort of table, or behind a shelf. See C.

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274 NOTES

JK :,:::--,::

AA

Fig. 108-Antoine-Francois Callet, TheSaturnalia,or Winter.Paris, Musee du Louvre

altogether different thematic and stylisticcontext.In fact the drawing is for a picture by theFrench Academician, Antoine-Francois Callet(1741-1823), which illustrates the celebrationof the Roman Saturnalia (Figs 108, 109).9

Entitled Les Saturnales ou l'Hiver, this paintingwas designed to serve as one of the tapestrycartoons in a series on the familiar Gobelinstheme of the Seasons-for once, however,not represented in allegorical figures orstories from classical mythology, but with

H6per, Bartolomeo assarotti(1529-1592), 2 vols, Worms1987, ii, pp. 88-9, no. G 96, pl. 21b; A. Ghirardi, Barto-lomeoPassarotti, pittore (1529-1592), Rimini 1990, pp.225-9, no. 59.9 Paris, Louvre, inv. 3100. See P. Rosenberg, N.Reynaud and I. Compin, Muskedu Louvre.Catalogue llus-tr4desPeintures.Ecolefrangaise,XVIIe tXVIIIeiecles,2 vols,Paris 1974, i, p. 50, no. 84 (repr.) and p. 260. Most of thepublished drawings by Callet are sketches or designs for

entire compositions, rather than groups or figures. SeeE. Scheyer, 'French Drawings of the Great Revolutionand the Napoleonic Era',ArtQuarterly,i, 1941, pp. 193-4, figs 5-6; P. Bjurstr6m, FrenchDrawings.EighteenthCen-tury,Stockholm 1982, nos 872-3 (one a Bacchanal); B.Gallini, 'Les esquisses d'Antoine-Franoois Callet (1741-1823) ', Revuedu Louvre t desMuskes eFrance,xxxiii, 1983,2, pp. 134-7, esp. fig. 8; eadem, 'Autour du morceaud'agrement d'Antoine-Fran;ois Callet (1741-1823):

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THE BLACK BOY AT THE FEAST 275ancient festivals from the annual cycle.1' Itwas exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1783,accompanied by the following description:Ces Fetes chez les Romains se c6l6broient dans lemois de Decembre en l'honneur de Saturne; lesmaitres servoient leurs esclaves, & le peuple selivroit pendant quinze jours a toutes sortes dedebauches. 1

extended, after the additions made by JuliusCaesar and then Caligula, it went on for nomore than five (or seven by merging intothe two-day Sigillaria, when presents of littleimages were exchanged).1 I suspect the artistwas influenced by the twelve days of Christ-mas which supplanted the pagan feast. Still,

14

Fig. 109-Antoine-Fran

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276 NOTESSaturn, slaves briefly exchanged places withtheir masters,'4assuming symbolic if not realcaps of liberty, and with them freedom ofspeech and the right to be served at table.Most of Callet's slaves turned masters lookperfectly relaxed in their transient situation-notably the cheerful drinking couple inthe foreground, with the man sporting ajaunty pileus;' and the background is givenover to dancing with garlands around animage of the infant-devouring Saturn. Theblack youth (for the boy of the painting looksrather older than his counterpart in thedrawing) belongs to the group in the middleground (Fig. 109), for the most part drunk,which is being entertained by a muscular,shaven-headed musician (a borrowed galley-slave from Rubens's Arrival of Marie de' Mediciat Marseilles). In attendance is a decorousyoung woman who is presumably the mistressof the house; she looks with indulgence atthe befuddled concentration with which oneof her maidservants scrabbles about in abasket of bread. But the black figure nearbyglances up towards the lady with a certainnervous attention. He might simply beimagined as relatively sober, or again as anewcomer to Rome and Roman customs, un-familiar with Saturnalian reversals. Probably,however, his pose and attitude reflect the factthat the artist envisaged him as the mistress'sparticular attendant, her devoted personalservant. And if Callet could certainly havefound references in classical literature toRoman ladies who had their own blackslaves,'6 I suspect that he was as much in-fluenced by modern as by ancient practice,specifically the pictorial convention of theblack page who at once admires and paystribute to his white mistress.17

Paintings of subjects from ancient historymade in France in the 1780s have regularlybeen scrutinised by scholars for suggestivedetails, images that might be taken as symp-toms or signals of the coming Revolution.Whatever Callet's original intention-andthe picture was,after all, a royalcommission'8-his Saturnalian festival, with its liberatedslaves and prominent liberty cap, seems temp-tingly amenable to this sort of interpretation.Given that enlighted ideas on liberty andservitude had begun to extend to blacks withthe publication in 1781 of Condorcet's de-nunciation of African slavery,19t might evenseem that the black youth would have hada particular resonance for some contempor-ary viewers. Significantly, he appears morehesitant and uneasy than any of his fellowsabout his altered Saturnalianstate, remainingattached to his mistress in a fixed habit ofservice and devotion. As a result-and moreeffectively than any white servant could havedone-this black slave becomes the lady'sidentifying attribute; in the midst of the tem-porary feast, he betokens and bears witnessto the continuing realities of despotic power.ELIZABETHMcGRATH

WARBURGINSTITUTE

14 See esp. Macrobius, Saturnalia, i.7.37, 11.1, 12.7,24.22; Justin, Epitome,xliii.1.3-4; Athenaeus, Deipnoso-phists, xiv.369B; Dio Cassius, Roman History, lx.19;Ausonius, Deferiis, 15. Cf. Lipsius (as in n. 13), pp. 10-11.15 One of the dancing men in the background also hasa liberty cap. On the wearing of the pileus by slaves atthe Saturnalia see Martial, Epigrammata, iv.1; Seneca,Epistles,xviii.16 Examples of such references are conveniently gath-ered in Lorenzo Pignoria, De servis,edn Padua 1656, p.205.17 For this tradition see P. H. D. Kaplan, 'Titian's Laura

Dianti and the Origin of the Motif of the Black Page inPortraiture', Antichita viva, xxi.1, 1982, pp. 11-18, andxxi.4, 1982, pp. 10-18; Marysa Otte, 'Somtitjs een

Moor . De neger als bijfiguur op Nederlandse portret-ten in de zevetiende en achtiende eeuw', Kunstlicht, iii,1987, pp. 6-10; alsoJ. M. Massing, 'From Greek Proverbto Soap Advert: Washing the Ethiopian', this Journal,lviii, 1995, pp. 190, 192-4; fig. 63 shows a print of 1706after a picture by Hyacinthe Rigaud which bears a tellinginscription. It is interesting to note that in Callet's finalpicture (Figs 108-9) the boy in the drawing (Fig. 107)has been assimilated more to this sort of image of thecourtly page, acquiring interalia a pearl earring.18 See above, n. 10.19Joachim Schwartz [=Marquis de Condorcet], Reflex-ions sur l'esclavagedes negres,Neufchaitel 1781; cf. H.Honour, TheImage of the Black in WesternArt. IV, Cam-bridge, Mass. and London 1989, i, p. 36.